Yashasvi Jaiswal was in the squad for last year’s T20 World, which India went on to win. However, since then, Jaiswal has not been part of the T20 bilaterals that India has played. Although Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma have performed well at the top, there was an expectation from a few former players that Yashasvi Jaiswal, who has done quite well for the Rajasthan Royals, would get his call, which did not happen.
When former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar was asked about the same, he said on India Today: “You can only pick XI in the match and you can only pick 15 in the squad. Somebody has to miss out, that’s just one of those in Indian cricket. No point in discussing whether A or B or C should’ve been there. This is now our team. We can all have our opinions before the selection committee picks the team but once the team is picked, we should back it fully. We shouldn’t be saying A should’ve been there or B should’ve been there. That only creates controversy, which the players don’t need.”
From 66 IPL games, Jaiswal has scored 2166 runs at an average of 34.38 and a strike rate of 152.86.
However, Shubman Gill, who also has not been a part of the side since last year’s series against Zimbabwe, has been made the vice-captain for the showpiece event. “Not surprising at all. He (Shubman Gill) scored over 750 runs just a couple of weeks ago. You cannot exclude a player in that kind of form. Also, he has done really well in the IPL, which concluded just before the tour to England. It’s a very good inclusion. Giving him the vice-captaincy is also a way of telling him that in the future, he could be leading the T20 side. I think it’s a very, very good selection,” Gavaskar said.
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