Kedar Jadhav declared fit for the World Cup

Indian middle-order batsman and part-time bowler Kedar Jadhav has been declared fit for the upcoming 2019 World Cup in England. Jadhav injured his shoulder during the IPL, which led to doubts about his availability for the tournament.

Jadhav has now been declared fit by the chairman of selectors, MSK Prasad. Communicating to CricketNext, he said:

“We have got the medical certificate declaring Jadhav is fit to play in the World Cup. He will travel to the UK with the rest of the squad on Wednesday. We received the fitness certificate from Farhart on Monday and we are satisfied with the report. Jadhav should be available for India’s first game against South Africa.”

The availability of Jadhav will come as a big boost to the Indian team management. Not only is he a brisk scorer with the bat down the order, but Jadhav has also proven his mettle with the ball in hand. He has become an effective sixth bowling option for India, sneaking in some economical spells in the middle-overs and has an uncanny ability to pick up crucial wickets.

There were speculations going around that if Jadhav was not able to recover in time, either Ambati Rayudu or Rishabh Pant would have taken his place in the squad. With Jadhav now declared fit, India are unlikely to make any changes to the initial 15-man squad which they announced for the World Cup, before the May 23 deadline.

Pant and Rayudu are still on standby though, along with Ishant Sharma, Navdeep Saini and Axar Patel in case an injury occurs to a member of the Indian squad during the tournament.

India will begin their campaign against South Africa on June 5 at the Rose Bowl in Southampton. They will also play a couple of warm-up matches against New Zealand and Bangladesh respectively.