Former India opener Virender Sehwag has made strong comments about the role of Ravindra Jadeja in the Rajasthan Royals (RR) team after their crushing defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on April 13.
Rajasthan Royals had a disappointing performance in their last IPL 2026 encounter, as the strength of their batting came under question. They are too dependent on the top order, and their failure leads to batting collapse, which is what happened against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Virender Sehwag raised questions on the role of Ravindra Jadeja in Rajasthan Royals team.
Questions were raised whether RR’s middle order could really handle the pressure situation after the SRH game. As Royals face KKR in Kolkata, great Indian opener Virender Sehwag has tried to show the reality of Ravindra Jadeja’s role in the team.
Also read: Rajasthan Royals’ message to Vaibhav Suryavanshi after the revelation of the golden duck
Cricket pundits believe that when the team is already in trouble, Jadeja’s batting style is not such that it can turn the tide of the match. This was clearly shown in his last game. Jadeja tried to steady the innings and scored 45 runs in 32 balls while batting at number six, but Rajasthan Royals still lost against SRH by a huge margin of 57 runs.
This showed that when the pressure is high, RR has no one in the middle order who can take complete control and finish the game. In another match against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Jadeja played a steady innings of 25*, but this was after the top order had already done most of the work.
Jadeja can’t win matches for Rajasthan Royals: Sehwag
Sehwag has said that RR’s batting mainly depends on Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel and Vaibhav Suryavanshi. He said that Jadeja’s role has mostly been to hold one end and keep the innings stable. His strike rate of less than 130 lower down the order suggests that he plays more as a supporting batsman rather than an aggressive match-winner in difficult situations.
Cricbuzz quoted Virender Sehwag as saying, “Only three players from their team are scoring runs – Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurel. No one else is in form. Ravindra Jadeja is an experienced player, but his strike rate and batting are not such that he can win you games.”
So, if the top order fails someone has to come forward and put their hand up. Those were not match-winning runs. That was just a formality; Score a few runs here and there because the match was already over.”
Also read: ‘It is a privilege to have Vaibhav Suryavanshi in our team’: Ravindra Jadeja gave a bold statement
In the current match also, after scoring 81 runs without losing any wicket against KKR at Eden Gardens, Royals have lost three wickets for 99 runs.
Ravindra Jadeja’s IPL 2026 show
Notably, Ravindra Jadeja joined Rajasthan Royals this season after Chennai Super Kings made a historic trade deal. In this high-profile swap, Jadeja and Sam Curran moved to RR, while Sanju Samson joined CSK.
Even though Jadeja is not the RR captain that was expected, he is playing an important senior role. Jadeja has played 5 matches so far this season. He scored 76 runs and took 3 wickets.