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Yashasvi Jaiswal in action. (FILE photo)
Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra said that Yashasvi Jaiswal could have been included in the 2026 T20 World Cup squad. He also reminded that the southpaw was part of the side for the 2024 T20 World Cup when India won; however, later Shubman Gill came into the side has become a regular member. However, with Shubman being axed for the upcoming showpiece event starting on February 7, Chopra opined that Jaiswal should have been the first guy that had to return to the side logically.
“The way Yashasvi plays, logically, he should come in the team first, and he was there. He was part of the team in the 2024 T20 World Cup. He didn’t get a chance to play for a simple reason that there was no place. He even scored a century when he played before that. His name is there among the six Indians to have scored centuries in all formats,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
“However, there were a lot of Tests after that and he wasn’t picked for T20s. It was believed that Yashasvi was ahead in the pecking order. In the interim, Abhishek and Sanju opened and did well, and suddenly you realize there is no place. After that, when the opening comes, India goes with Shubman Gill,” he added.
“They not only went with him, but they also made him the vice-captain, which means he cannot be dropped. I had picked Yashasvi in the Asia Cup team I had picked. However, Shubman became the vice-captain, and the rest, as they say, is history. So Yashasvi, who was actually a frontrunner, was forgotten,” Chopra observed.
“Now when they left Shubman out, could Yashasvi have been there? He couldn’t have been there because the opener is Sanju Samson. So you will have to keep a wicketkeeper-opener as a backup. If we don’t do that, assuming Sanju has a stomach upset or has a fever before the game, what will you do?” he reasoned.
“It seemed like Yash would 100 percent be part of the team, especially once Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma had taken retirement. He will have to still wait. This IPL will be important for him, but it’s very hard not to feel for Yashasvi because he has been scoring runs since 2023 and it’s 2025 now,” Chopra observed.
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