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Yashasvi Jaiswal on the left and Shreyas Iyer on the right. (FILE photo)
With the Ajit Agarkar led selection committee deciding about Indian red ball captain being the vice-captain for the upcoming Asia Cup and set to don the opener’s role along with Abhishek Sharma or Sanju Samson, it meant that Yashasvi Jaisal missed out from the India’s squad for Asia Cup. Jaisal, who has so far played in 23 T20Is for India scoring 723 runs at a strike rate of 164.31, had scored 559 runs at an average of 159.71 for Rajasthan Royals in this year’s IPL. Along with Jaiswal, Punjab Kings skipper Shreyas Iyer, who had scored 604 runs in the IPL this year and led his team to the final, also missed out on a spot in the Indian team. Former Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has shared how this exclusion will lead both the players not to take risks in future.
“Not only has his (Yashasvi Jaiswal) slot gone, but there’s a leadership role in that. Now, he’s left with one spot — he needs to fight for Abhishek Sharma’s place. Or he’ll have to go and play in the middle-order in the IPL. He averages 36, with a strike rate of 165 in this format. It’s very hard to find a guy like Jaiswal. He doesn’t play for himself sometimes, I have seen a lot of batters who do. Shreyas (Iyer) is the same. Both of them play less for their average and more for strike rate. If the ball is there to be hit, they take the chance. It took a long time for India to get players with that brand of cricket. Now you got those players… I’ll say if I am Jaiswal or Shreyas, now my chance is gone, so from the next time if a risk has to be taken, I won’t. I’ll play for myself because I need to secure my place. It’s unfortunate you’ll have to play for that in T20s,” Ashwin said on his Youtube channel Ash ki Baat.
While the Indian selectors went with Suryakumar Yadav being the captain of the Asia Cup side and Gill being appointed the vice-captain, the likes of Jaiswal and Iyer could not find a place in the team. With the selectors showing faith in the likes of Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh and Shivam Dube for the middle-order role in T20Is, Iyer had to miss out. While Abhishek Sharma has performed well in the format in recent months in India colours too with 535 runs with a strike rate of 193.84 in 17 T20Is apart form 439 runs in this year’s IPL, Gil had scored 630 runs at a strike rate of 155.87 int this year’s IPL. Gill had scored 754 runs in the recently concluded Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy while Jaiswal had scored 411 runs including two centuries. Ashwin shared how Jaiswal had adapted to all the formats and will need to go back to the drawing board to think about earning his place in the Indian T20I side.“Jaiswal got a chance in Test cricket. He took it with both hands. Easily the most successful Test batter to make a debut for India in the recent past. He excelled in whichever format you gave him a chance. What can a guy do apart from excellence? He showed excellence, and now, in that spot, his chance is gone. What can he do now? Go back to the drawing board. I really wish him well when he gets a chance in the future,”Ashwin added.
Chief selector Ajit Agarkar talked about Iyer and Jaiswal’s exclusions in the press conference on Tuesday. “It’s unfortunate that Shreyas Iyer misses out. It’s no fault of his, neither ours. He has to wait for his chance. We have got some serious options in the T20I squad…sometimes not the easiest squad to pick but a good headache to have. It’s unfortunate Jaiswal has had to miss out but he will have to wait,” Agarkar had told the media on Tuesday.
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