We did not pick him because of his history of fitness: MSK Prasad explains Kedar Jadhav’s ODI snub

Indian middle-order batsman Kedar Jadhav was left stumped when he was left out of the Indian squad for the remaining three ODIs against the West Indies.

But the chairman of selectors MSK Prasad explained Jadhav’s snub, saying that the Maharashtra cricketer wasn’t selected because of his history with fitness issues.

Jadhav was a part of the India A squad in the Deodhar Trophy and he even blazed his way to a 41 of 25 balls in the presence of all three national selectors. We did not pick Kedar because of his history of fitness. There have been occasions earlier when he has come back fit and then broke down, a case in point being the Asia Cup last month,” Prasad said, as quoted by PTI after the 15-man squad for the remaining three ODIs were announced.

Also read: India vs Windies: Kedar Jadhav shocked at surprise snub from ODI squad

“Actually, we were thinking that if India A won today, then Kedar would have got another match, which would have given us a fair assessment of his match fitness. Maybe we could have added him as an additional player (in Indian team) before the fourth ODI as the Deodhar final is on Saturday. Players need to understand that there is a process that we follow while selecting the team.”

The national selectors in recent times, have been criticised by players for not being communicated about their future with the Indian team by the BCCI. The row started with Karun Nair who was selected for the tour of England but did not get a single match while Murali Vijay was handed the axe for his poor performances in the Test series against Joe Root and co.

Jadhav too spoke along the same lines when he said, “Let’s see. You are the first one to tell me this. I need to see why they have not picked me. I don’t know what the plan is now that I am not there in the team. Probably, I will be playing the Ranji Trophy.”

India now play against the West Indies in the third ODI on October 27.

Image credit- DNA India