Former Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin reckons Axar Patel is ahead of Ravindra Jadeja in the pecking order in ODIs after the series against the West Indies. Jadeja was rested for the third ODI against the West Indies at New Chandigarh on Saturday. The left-arm orthodox spinner took two wickets in two games of the series at an average of 64.50.
On the other hand, Axar Patel was part of India’s T20I squad for the Asian Games. Patel bagged four wickets in two games of the tournament at an average of 9.25 and conceded his runs at an economy rate of 5.29 in favorable spin conditions.
“Because of the subtleties, Axar is ahead of Jadeja at this point. Axar the white-ball bowler is right up there. It will always be up and down for a finger spinner and you may not get as many wickets all the time,” Ashwin said in a video on his YouTube channel.
Ashwin said he would like to see Washington Sundar bowl more for India and develop those subtleties.
“I would love to watch Washi bowling more. I want him to develop those subtleties as a bowler. He has the skills but he is underselling them. He is getting less opportunities and he can really go up as a bowler,” he said.
Ashwin praised Patel for performing consistently for India in T20Is after his form dipped in the IPL while leading Delhi Capitals in the 2026 season.
“I will also give a lot of credit to Axar. In this day and age, for a finger spinner without a lot of variations, he comes and bowls in the powerplay and later comes and does the job wherever the team requires it. His form dipped a bit in the IPL last year but we cannot confuse it with T20Is. IPL and international T20 is very different. Things are very different in the IPL,” he added.
India will take on the West Indies in the first T20I on Saturday.
