3 Players That Missed Out In India's ODI Squad

Hardik Pandya has been excluded from Gautam Gambhir's new Indian team [X]Hardik Pandya has been excluded from Gautam Gambhir's new Indian team [X]

The Gautam Gambhir era in Indian cricket has begun with the announcement of the T20I and ODI squads for the Sri Lanka tour. The squads revealed quite a lot regarding the vision that Gambhir is going to follow and the players that he will look to back. 

With the Indian team looking to transform smoothly into the new era, there were not too many surprises announced in the squads. However, there might have been a few players who, despite showing good performances or despite being in the scheme of things, did not make it into the squad. Here is a look at three players who missed out on India's ODI squad. 

India's Squad for SL ODIs

Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Rishabh Pant (WK), Shreyas Iyer, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Riyan Parag, Axar Patel, Khaleel Ahmed, Harshit Rana

1.Hardik Pandya

Hardik Pandya is not a part of the Indian ODI squad for Sri Lanka [X]Hardik Pandya is not a part of the Indian ODI squad for Sri Lanka [X]


After Kapil Dev, India has not seen too many successful pace-bowling all-rounders. However, the drought ended with the arrival of Hardik Pandya. The MI skipper has, time again, proved himself to be efficient in the Blue Jersey with both the bat and the ball. 

Even in the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2024, Pandya played a crucial role for team India. He played a couple of very useful knocks under pressure and also a very efficient spell in the grand finale. 

Pandya is a master of the white ball format. His exclusion and the inclusion of Shivam Dube in the squad may be an indicator that India is trying to look beyond Pandya in the 50-over format. The vision might be to use the experience and skill of Pandya only for the shortest format of the game in the international arena.


2. Ravindra Jadeja

Ravindra Jadeja has been dropped from the Indian ODI squad for the Sri Lanka tour [X]Ravindra Jadeja has been dropped from the Indian ODI squad for the Sri Lanka tour [X]

Following the title-winning effort in the T20 World Cup 2024, Ravindra Jadeja followed suit of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli and announced his retirement from the format. He might have thought about concentrating more on the longer formats of the game. However, with Axar Patel and Washington Sundar given the boarding pass to Sri Lanka for the ODI series, it seems that Jadeja's future in the 50-over format is also in doubt. 

Gautam Gambhir might be thinking of different teams for different format approaches, and Ravindra Jadeja might not be a part of white ball cricket in that plan. The plan might be to use Jadeja as a Test specialist in the near future.


3. Ruturaj Gaikwad

Ruturaj Gaikwad has good numbers in the List-A format [X]Ruturaj Gaikwad has good numbers in the List-A format [X]

Ruturaj Gaikwad has been impressing everyone with his exploits in the domestic circuit for the past two to three seasons. This has seen him be a part of India's T20I setup, and he has also delivered in the international arena whenever he has had an opportunity. 

The right-handed top-order batter has so far played only six ODIs, and the numbers are not that impressive. However, if we look at his List-A career, then he has an average of 58.16 across 76 innings with 15 hundreds and 17 fifties. These numbers are more than impressive, and it feels like he should have got a chance in the ODI format. With India trying to move onto a new era, Ruturaj could have been a good option for top-order.