Former India opener Virender Sehwag has made a strong observation about Ravindra Jadeja’s role in the Rajasthan Royals (RR) team after their crushing loss to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on April 13.
Rajasthan Royals had a disappointing outing in their previous IPL 2026 clash, as their batting strength came under the scanner. They are heavily dependent on the top order, and their failure leads to batting collapse, which is something that happened against the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Virender Sehwag questions Ravindra Jadeja’s role in Rajasthan Royals team
The question was raised about whether RR’s middle order can actually handle pressure situations following the SRH game. As the Royals face KKR in Kolkata, legendary Indian opener Virender Sehwag has tried to show the reality of Ravindra Jadeja’s role in the team.
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The cricket pandit feels Jadeja’s batting style is not the kind that can turn matches around when the team is already in trouble. This was clearly shown in their last game. Jadeja tried to stabilize the innings and scored 45 runs from 32 balls while batting at number six, but the Rajasthan Royals still ended up losing by a big margin of 57 runs against SRH.
It showed that when the pressure is high, RR doesn’t have someone in the middle order who can take full control and finish games. In another match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Jadeja played a steady knock of 25*, but that came when the top order had already done most of the job.
Jadeja can’t win matches for Rajasthan Royals: Sehwag
Sehwag has pointed out that RR’s batting is mainly depending on Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, and Vaibhav Suryavanshi. He added that Jadeja’s role has mostly been to hold one end and keep the innings stable. His strike rate under 130 in lower-order shows that he plays more as a support batter rather than an aggressive match-winner in crunch situations.
Virender Sehwag was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz: “From their team, only three players are scoring runs—Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Dhruv Jurel. None of the others are in form. Ravindra Jadeja is an experienced player, but his strike rate and batting are not such that he will win you games.
So, someone has to step up and raise their hand if the top order fails. Those were not match-winning runs. That was just a formality; score some runs here and there because the match was already gone.”
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Even in the ongoing match, the Royals have lost three wickets for 99 runs after scoring 81 runs without losing a wicket against KKR at the Eden Gardens.
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 anticipated, he is playing an important senior role. So far this season, Jadeja has played 5 matches. He has scored 76 runs and picked up 3 wickets.
