Selectors might have moved on from a few prominent players.
India have announced their ODI squad for the three-match series against Australia, with plenty of surprises. While Rohit Sharma’s captaincy snub hogged the limelight, a few other notable omissions were equally noteworthy.
The squad also indicated how the team might approach ODIs, and some players, a few of whom were in the Champions Trophy 2025, might not return to the setup. With the 2027 World Cup in mind, selectors might have moved on from a few prominent players.
We look at three players who might never return to the ODI squad.
As unlucky as he might feel, Sanju Samson might have played his final ODI already. Ajit Agarkar explained that Samson is a top-order batter and might not be suited for the middle-order role, currently performed by KL Rahul, which was the reason they preferred Dhruv Jurel.
Samson’s last ODI outing came in 2023 when he scored a century in Paarl, but he has been out of the setup since. With a focus on building towards the next World Cup, he might be restricted to the T20I format only in future.
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Agarkar said that the team won’t need too many spin options in Australia, so they preferred Axar Patel, even though Ravindra Jadeja remains in the scheme of things. His statement confirms that the management sees Axar as a better option than Jadeja in ODIs.
With the next World Cup in South Africa, where India won’t require more than two spinners either, Jadeja might be done in ODIs. The doors are not completely closed, but Axar seems to have piped him in the 50-over format as well.
Mohammed Shami has been one of the finest ODI bowlers for India, but his international career is likely over now. He hasn’t been the same since returning from a major surgery, even though he played in the Champions Trophy 2025.
His fitness remains a question, and more importantly, he has been nowhere close to his best, as was also confirmed in IPL 2025. It’s hard to see him returning to the national setup after the rise of the likes of Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna.
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