Melbourne [Australia], October 15 (ANI): Former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri backed veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja to return to ODI set-up after being left out of tour to Australia, saying that he is 'fit as a fiddle' and spinners could get help in South Africa during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2027, which will keep him in contention for the spot.

While the return of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in Indian colours after T20Is and Test retirements and appointment of Shubman Gill as ODI captain made plenty of headlines, one noticable thing in the Australia squad was absence of Jadeja, who has been in exceptional form with the bat in Tests this year and also had hit the winning runs in the ICC Champions Trophy final against New Zealand back in March.

Speaking of Jadeja, Shastri said to Fox Sports, as quoted by ICC, 'He is fit as a fiddle. He is still one of the best fielders in the world.'

'When it comes to a World Cup, you are not playing just one team. You are playing a lot of other teams.'

'The conditions are different in South Africa. There will be pitches where the spinners will get help, so do not rule him out.'

'I am sure the management would have spoken to him (about) why they have not picked him (for Australia). And Jadeja himself said in an interview that he would have loved to have gone there. The communication has also been that you are not out of it. You are in the mix,' concluded Shastri.

During the team selection presser, chief selector Ajit Agarkar had said about the 36-year-old Jadeja, 'At the moment to take two left-arm spinners to Australia is not possible. He is clearly in the scheme of things with how good he is, but there will be some competition for places.'

In 204 ODIs, Jadeja has scored 2,806 runs in 137 innings at an average of 32.62, with a best score of 87 and 13 fifties and also taken 231 wickets at an average of 35.41, with best figures of 5/33, making him a valuable asset.

The tour to Australia will kickstart with three ODIs from October 19 onwards.

India's ODI squad: Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal. (ANI)