'It Can Come Only If You Play For Fun...': R. Ashwin Shares Advice For India Team Senior Player Amid Recent Struggles In ODI

India hosted New Zealand for a three-match ODI series, with the third ODI being played on January 19, 2026. While India won the first ODI match, they failed to secure wins in the last two matches.

During the ODI series, veteran player Ravindra Jadeja has come under scrutiny for his poor performance in the three-match series. Following the scrutiny, longtime former teammate Ravichandran Ashwin shared some advice for Jadeja after his subpar performance in the ODI series.

In his recent YouTube video, Ashwin suggested to Jadeja that he let go of his unwillingness and expand his bowling arsenal after he failed to pick up a single wicket in the ODI series against New Zealand.

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Ashwin On Ravindra Jadeja's Declining Form

Ashwin blamed Jadeja's lack of willingness to experiment with his bowling for his underwhelming performance in the ODI series. Additionally, he shared that to play with such bandwidth, one would need to play for fun like Virat Kohli, who does not stay limited to just one role.

While talking about Jadeja, Ashwin shared, "I've seen over the last four to five years, he'll try a carrom ball in the nets but not bowl them in a match. He's extremely skillful, so if he doesn't perform well in two matches, he'll perform in the third. But to expand from that bandwidth is hard when you have played for so many years. It can come only if you play for fun, like Virat Kohli is doing now."

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Ravindra Jadeja's Decline In Bowling

Ravindra Jadeja went wicketless in the three-match series and conceded runs at an economy of 6.13 as India suffered a 1-2 ODI series defeat. Additionally, he also struggled with the bat in the ODI series, averaging under 15 with a strike rate of 66.15 in three innings.