The Indian selection committee, led by Ajit Agarkar, made a couple of surprising decisions when it announced the squad for next year’s T20 World Cup.
Showing no mercy on the out-of-form Shubman Gill, they dropped him for the marquee tournament even though he made his return into the T20I setup as the vice-captain earlier this year.
And dropping him meant a change in team combination as India were now an opener short. As a result, Jitesh Sharma became the unfortunate victim with the selectors calling up wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan as the backup to opener Sanju Samson, while finisher Rinku Singh was also recalled.
The debate was on the big decision to leave out Gill, who has been hyped up as the next all-format batting star from India. However, another rising batting star in Yashasvi Jaiswal continues to be snubbed from India’s white-ball squads despite not doing much wrong and proving his claim in the little chances that he has gotten so far, given the wealth of talent the team has at its disposal.
Former India cricketer WV Raman feels that while not every conversation that happens behind closed doors can be made public, Jaiswal will now have to wait patiently for his time.
“Certain conversations can’t be revealed in public, but now the World T20 squad has been selected, and one can’t do anything. Jaiswal will have to bide his time, but I am confident that the kind of talent he is, he will play many more World Cups,” Raman said.
Jaiswal, who made his T20I debut in 2023, last played a game in the format for India in July last year. So far, in 23 T20Is, the opener has scored 723 runs at a strike-rate of 164.31, including a century and five half-centuries.
Prior to the squad announcement, the 23-year-old had publicly expressed his wish to play in the World Cup.
“My dream is to play T20 World Cup, but I try to focus on my game and will wait for my time,” Jaiswal told Aaj Tak.