Till recently Ravindra Jadeja was considered one of the most key members of India’s limited overs squad.

His all-round ability in ODIs and T20Is came to the team’s rescue on several occasions. But a lacklustre performance in the T20 World Cup has forced the selectors to take a different view.

Jadeja scored 35 runs in five innings at a strike-rate of almost 160 and took one wicket in eight matches at an economy of 7.57 in the tournament held in the US and the West Indies. He has since retired from T20Is but was not picked in the ODI squad for the Sri Lanka tour on Thursday.

Given Axar Patel’s versatility, new head coach Gautam Gambhir is learnt to be toying with the idea of looking beyond Jadeja.

Axar can be used as a floater in the batting order and has delivered at critical junctures.

The availability of Washington Sundar has also helped in having a more flexible approach. If the team management decides to go in with three spinners, it could now have a left-arm spinner, a wrist spinner in Kuldeep Yadav or Ravi Bishnoi and an off spinner.

But the final word hasn’t yet been written on Jadeja. Considering his exploits and experience, he could still get a look-in.