Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been ruled out of the ongoing T20I series against Australia as he is suffering a concussion after being hit on his head in the series-opener, the BCCI said in a statement released on Friday night.
‘The diagnosis was confirmed based on a clinical assessment in the dressing room during the innings break by the BCCI Medical Team. Jadeja remains under observation and will be taken for further scans if required based on the assessment on Saturday morning. He will not take any further part in the ongoing T20I series,’ said the release.
Shardul Thakur has been named as Jadeja’s replacement in the T20I squad. There are two more matches left in the series, scheduled to be played on Sunday and Tuesday.
Jadeja was hit on the left side of his forehead in the final over of the first innings of the first T20I between India and Australia in Canberra on 4th December 2020. He did not return in the second innings with Yuzvendra Chahal coming in as his concussion replacement. Chahal finished with a haul of 3/25 and was adjudged the Man of the Match after picking the wickets of Aussie captain Aaron Finch, Steve Smith and Matthew Wade.
Australian coach Justin Langer was seen having an animated conversation with match referee David Boon when Chahal took the field although skipper Aaron Finch said a medical experts decision could not be questioned.
"Their doctor had ruled Jadeja out due to concussion. You can't be challenging a medical expert's opinion," said Finch after the match.
Australia all-rounder Moises Henriques however pointed out in the post-match press conference that the problem was with India not picking a like-for-like substitute for Jadeja and instead going for leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.
"The like-for-like for me was one is an all-rounder, gun fielder and the other one is out and out bowler who bats at 11. That is the only thing from my point of view. It had nothing to do with his hammy (hamstring). I'd like to look at it as like-for-like decision," said Henriques.
He, like Finch, added that India being allowed to use a concussion substitute was not being questioned by the Aussies.
"I think the concussion was fine. If the player gets hit on the head, he needs to be replaced if doctor thinks, it is fine. But it will have to be like-for-like, that is the only thing for me. These are the rules of the game whether players like or not but moving forward, to make it fair, I think like-for-like replacement is the way to go," Henriques added.
India’s Updated T20I Squad
Virat Kohli (Captain), KL Rahul (VC & WK), Shikhar Dhawan, Mayank Agarwal, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Sanju Samson (WK), Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini, Deepak Chahar, T Natarajan, Shardul Thakur.
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