Team management needs to take a call on Ravindra Jadeja’s fitness: Saba Karim

Ravindra Jadeja has been one of the most consistent players in the Indian team. Without him in the squad, the balance of the team takes a dip and that is the root problem of India’s failure in the Asia Cup. With the T20 World Cup and the ODI World Cup coming in a matter of one year, team India needs to make sure that he remains fit for those two tournaments.

Saba Karim, the former India international believes that the team management and the medical staff should focus on Jadeja’s workload. Be it in any format, Jadeja adds a lot of value in the team and has proved to be a runaway match-winner in any format of the game. Thus, his fitness is something that needs to be taken care of.

“I think Jadeja is such a player who adds value in all three formats. But I think going ahead, not only Jadeja but even the team management and the medical team of team India, need to take a call in terms of his fitness whether he can continue to play all three formats or not and if not, then what is the most preferable choice for him,” said Karim on SPORTS18’s daily sports news show ‘SPORTS OVER THE TOP’.

Saba Karim wants Jadeja to play all the major matches across format

After his injury, it is still not certain when the ‘rockstar’ of Indian cricket will come back into action. However, Saba Karim wants to see him return to action in the T20 World Cup. He also wants to see him feature in the four Test matches against Australia and in the two against Bangladesh and also in the upcoming World Cup. The former selector also indicated that he doesn’t want Jadeja to risk playing the bilateral series.

“I think India plays four Test matches at home and they play two Test matches against Bangladesh away and all these 6 test matches, because India is eying to qualify again for the world Test Championship final. It is very important for the medical team of team India to keep that in mind and manage his workload so that at least he is available for all these six Test matches because he brings so much to the table.

"Now once we get the Test matches kind of sorted, then I look at the big events like the ICC World Cup events. I hope that he gets fit for the World Cup T20 and then next year it is the 50-over World Cup. So, I think keeping these two big events coming up shortly, I would love to see Jadeja play on all these three platforms,” said Karim on the same show.