Ravindra Jadeja has opened up about the hidden struggles of his early international career, revealing that being repeatedly pushed down the batting order left him questioning whether the Indian team management had any faith in his batting ability.

Speaking to broadcasters ahead of the rain-delayed second day's play against Sri Lanka, the star all-rounder delivered a strikingly candid account of the self-doubt that plagued him during his formative years in the Indian dressing room — a period he admits left him feeling isolated and 'disturbed'.

'My morale and confidence would go down'

Jadeja, whose batting average in domestic first-class cricket stands at more than 60 across the Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy, explained that he never doubted his own ability at the crease — the doubt came from where he was asked to bat.

"When I started, I used to bat at number 4. If you look at my entire Ranji Trophy career, my average is more than 60. Whatever Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy first-class cricket I have played domestically, my batting average is more than 60. So somewhere, I had that belief that I had that ability. But sometimes what happens is that you come into the Indian team and you don't get that batting number," Jadeja said.

The all-rounder admitted that regularly batting at No. 8 or 9 — and on many occasions even below Ravichandran Ashwin — took a heavy toll on his confidence during the initial years of his international career.

"Sometimes the situation is such that I have batted at number 8 and 9 as well. So, when you are sitting in the dressing room with your pads on, next to you, a fast bowler is selecting a ball. Seeing all those things, my morale and confidence would go down. Sometimes you think to yourself, 'I have to go and score runs,'" he added.

'The team doesn't even have confidence in me?'

Jadeja revealed that watching fast bowlers pick out a bat while he sat padded-up, waiting for a slot that rarely came, made him feel the team had written off his batting completely.

"And in that same dressing room, a fast bowler is selecting the ball, thinking, 'Come on, now bowling is coming.' So because of all those things, my confidence was literally disturbed. I would think, 'Oh man, what is this? The team doesn't even have confidence in me?' So I have seen that in my early days, that I didn't get that number. Very low, many times I even went in to bat below Ashwin. So somewhere, all those things disturbed me," Jadeja revealed.

The reflection comes as Jadeja has evolved into one of the most dependable lower-middle-order batters in world cricket, with the temperament to grind out long innings for India in crunch situations.

India in command after Day 1 against Sri Lanka

Jadeja's comments arrived after India produced a dominant batting display on the opening day of the Test against Sri Lanka, finishing on 288/2 in a strong position on a rain-affected day's play.

Devdutt Padikkal was the star of the day, scoring a magnificent unbeaten 131 to register his maiden Test century, while KL Rahul contributed a crucial 77 and Rishabh Pant remained unbeaten on 27 at the close of play. With the platform set on Day 1, India will be aiming to press home their advantage once the weather clears.