Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has voiced his surprise at some decisions made by All India Men’s Senior Selection Committee chief Ajit Agarkar ahead of the Asia Cup 2025. While Shubman Gill was reinstated into the T20I squad as vice-captain, young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was omitted, despite consistent performances since his debut.
Ashwin expressed concern over the omission, noting that such setbacks could impact the mindset of the talented left-hander. He warned that missing out might tempt Jaiswal to focus on personal milestones rather than team-oriented batting, potentially affecting his natural attacking game.
“𝑨𝒔 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 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔. 𝑯𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒅𝒐 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆? 𝑯𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒍𝒐𝒕,” 𝑨𝒔𝒉𝒘𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝑻𝒖𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒍.
Ashwin Highlights Jaiswal’s Team-Oriented Approach
Ashwin also highlighted the young opener’s remarkable strike rate in T20Is, emphasising that Jaiswal plays for the team rather than personal glory. Despite his consistency, the selection committee chose Gill for the vice-captaincy spot, leaving Jaiswal out.
“𝑯𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒇 165 [164.31] 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕. 𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒓𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑱𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒘𝒂𝒍 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇. 𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒐𝒓 𝑺𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒚𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒑,” 𝑨𝒔𝒉𝒘𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅.
Ashwin further added that Jaiswal now has the challenge of regrouping and refining his approach to fight for his place in the team. With limited slots available, he believes the competition will be tough, particularly with Abhishek Sharma also in contention.
“𝑵𝒐𝒘, 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒐 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒐𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍. 𝑱𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒘𝒂𝒍 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚—𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒂 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 𝒓𝒐𝒍𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒍𝒐𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝑨𝒃𝒉𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒌 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒂’𝒔 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒕, 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒕𝒆,” 𝑨𝒔𝒉𝒘𝒊𝒏 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅.
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