Mahela Jayawardene: Ravindra Jadeja's absence is a massive loss for India

Ravindra Jadejarsquos absence due to injury is a ldquomassive lossrdquo but Virat Kohlirsquos return to form and Jasprit Bumrahrsquos comeback would still make India a force to reckon with in the upcoming T20I World Cup feels Sri Lanka legend Mahela JayawardeneJadeja was left out of the 15member Indian team for the T20 World Cup in Australia in OctoberNovember after the allrounder suffered an injury during the AsiaIndiarsquos flexibility affectedldquoIt is a challenge They had fitted him Jadeja nicely in that No5 role He has been batting really well and him and Hardik Pandya being in that top sixmdashtwo guys who can give that allround optionsmdashgave India much more flexibility in that batting orderrdquo Jayawardena was quoted as saying in The ICC ReviewMahela JayawardeneldquoIt is a tough one for them and probably a concern not having that lefthander Theyrsquove switched to leaving out DK Dinesh Karthik and bringing in Rishabh Pant in that role batting at 5 or 4 Those are things they have to settle going into the World CupAlso ReadAsia Cup 2022 ExIndia batter hails decision to play Jadeja at number 4 against PakistanldquoBut not having Jadeja the form that he was init will be a massive loss for themrdquo the batting legend said of Jadeja Jayawardene said India can take solace inthe return to form of star batter Kohli who broke his century drought that spanned 1020 days scoring his 71st international hundred when he smashed an unbeaten 122 against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup though it was an inconsequential matchldquoHe Kohli was there and thereabouts pretty much He just didnrsquot have that big score under his belt to get that confidence especially in whiteball cricket which is always going to happenrdquo said Jayawardene who has been IPL side Mumbai Indiansrsquo head coachVirat KohlildquoThere were a few injury concerns in the last 12 months He had little niggles and they rested him and India kept on giving people rest with the workload that they had So not having that consistent run also makes it toughrdquoAlso Read BCCI announce squads for ICC Mens T20 World Cup 2022 Australia South Africa T20IslsquoWill be a fascinating WCrsquoldquoItrsquos good to see him Kohli batting like that We need all these brilliant players to be at their best form in a World Cup and thatrsquos what the World Cup deserves as well Everyone is going at each other at that level It will be a fascinating World Cup in AustraliaJayawardene said India would be further bolstered by the return of pace ace BumrahldquoObviously not having Jasprit in Asia Cup was also a factor He fills a big gap for them with the new ball and at the back end That will settle them as well when he is back in AustraliardquoThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever