Former India opener and commentator Aakash Chopra has questioned the national selection committee’s decision to omit Yashasvi Jaiswal from the squad for the upcoming ODI series against New Zealand.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Chopra expressed disappointment over Jaiswal missing out on an opportunity in the five-match series. Notably, the selectors have announced two groups for the ODI leg of the tour, but the left-handed batter has failed to find a place in either squad.
“What more should the guy do? When a guy gets fewer chances, you see what he does in them, and then you realize that he has done very well. He scores centuries, but despite that, his name isn’t there even for the first three ODIs, and that is a bit of a problem because Yashasvi can’t do anything more than this,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
“You have only two designated openers. So can Yashasvi not be there as the third player? Someone will think from his point of view at some stage as to what we are doing with Yashasvi. Are we able to explain it to him? Are we able to justify what we are doing?” he added.
It’s important to note that the selectors have divided the squad into two groups for the ODI series. Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, Anshul Kamboj, and Prasidh Krishna will feature in the first three matches, before being replaced by Tilak Varma, Auqib Nabi, Kumar Kushagra, and Yash Thakur for the remaining fixtures.
India’s ODI squad for the first three ODIs: Shubman Gill [C], Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer [VC], KL Rahul [WK], Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Naman Dhir, Anshul Kamboj, Gurnoor Brar, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Arshdeep Singh, Ishan Kishan [WK], Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna*, Kuldeep Yadav
India’s ODI squad for fourth and fifth ODIs: Shreyas Iyer [C], Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Tilak Varma, Ishan Kishan [WK, VC], Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Naman Dhir, Auqib Nabi, Gurnoor Brar, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Arshdeep Singh, Kumar Kushagra [WK], Mohammed Siraj, Yash Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav
