India will travel to New Zealand for five T20Is, five ODIs, and two Tests, and the BCCI recently announced a split squad for the ODI series. The ODI series will be played with the first game on November 4 in Auckland, the second on November 7 in Wellington, the third game on November 10 in Hamilton, and the fourth and fifth games will be played in Mount Maunganui on November 13 and 15.
One of the biggest surprises was that Yashasvi Jaiswal was not picked for the ODI series, even with Shubman Gill leaving the ODI squad after the first three matches. Hence, we take a look at three reasons why Jaiswal missed out on the ODI squad.
Here are the 3 reasons why Yashasvi Jaiswal isn’t picked for the NZ vs. IND ODI series:
3. Settled ODI top order
India has a well-settled top order in ODIs with Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill opening, Virat Kohli coming in at no. 3, and Shreyas Iyer coming in at no. 4. This means Yashasvi Jaiswal, despite having scored two centuries in his first six ODIs, needs to wait for his turn to come. There was a rumour of Rohit Sharma retiring, but with him being backed by BCCI for the 2027 World Cup, Jaiswal was not picked for the New Zealand ODIs.
2. Limited spots for specialist batters
With Indian management, including captain Shubman Gill and coach Gautam Gambhir, opting for longer batting depth, the slots for specialist batters have become fewer. With India playing three all-rounders in the lower order in the form of Axar Patel, Washington Sundar/Naman Dhir, and Nitish Kumar Reddy/Hardik Pandya, there are no slots left for proper batters after the top four.
1. Yashasvi Jaiswal’s importance
Yashasvi Jaiswal is currently the first-choice opener in the Indian Test team and will play in the red-ball series for India A before the two-Test series begins. With India looking to keep their World Test Championship (WTC) 2027 finals’ hopes alive, Yashasvi Jaiswal becomes a key player for Shubman Gill and Co. in the Test format; hence the team management wants him to focus on the Test format first, before the ODIs.
