There was no place for Yashasvi Jaiswal in the ODI team for the New Zealand tour. The left-handed batte made his ODI return for the home series against West Indies, but didn’t get to play a game.
Jaiswal slammed a century in his previous ODI outing before he was dropped for the England series. The left-handed batter hasn’t got a regular run in ODIs, forcing Aakash Chopra to question his absence for the New Zealand series. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Chopra asked what more Jaiswal has to do to play ODI cricket.
“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.
“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.
has 285 runs in only six ODIs he has played thus far. His tally includes two centuries. He is now a regular in only the Test format. Jaiswal, who made his Test debut against West Indies in 2023, is India’s first-choice opener.
Jaiswal hasn’t played a T20I game since July 2024. A member of the 2024 T20 World Cup-winning team, Jaiswal was rested for the home series against England in January 2025. Abhishek Sharma, who replaced Jaiswal, was preferred over him and he continues to open the innings in T20Is.
Ruturaj Gaikwad retained
Ruturaj Gaikwad has been retained in the ODI team for the NZ tour. The right-handed batter made his return for the West Indies series and scored 101 runs across three innings. He isn’t part of the Test and T20I teams. Ruturaj is uncapped in Test cricket.