Former India opener Aakash Chopra has said he feels for Yashasvi Jaiswal, who was left out of the squad for India’s ODI tour of England despite scoring a century in his most recent ODI series. India play three ODIs in England, in Birmingham on July 14, Cardiff on July 16 and London on July 19.
Dropped after another hundred
Jaiswal had come into the Afghanistan series as a replacement for Virat Kohli, who was unavailable through injury, and made an instant impact with a hundred. With Kohli now back in the squad subject to fitness clearance, Jaiswal has not been selected.
Chopra pointed out in a video on his YouTube channel that Jaiswal has played very few matches and has two centuries. He also scored a hundred in the last match against South Africa and was left out of the next series, and the same has now happened after the Afghanistan century. Chopra said Jaiswal will surely be asking himself what more he can do.
The reasoning, Chopra suggested, lies in the options ahead of him. Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma are the openers, while Ishan Kishan covers wicketkeeping, middle-order and opening roles, so he fits in anywhere.
The numbers from the Afghanistan series
Kishan was the second-highest run-scorer in the series with 159 runs in two innings at a strike rate of 157.43, including 125 off 79 balls in the second ODI in Lucknow. Jaiswal’s century came in Chennai, where he finished unbeaten on 110 from 86 balls with 14 fours and three sixes.
