Yashasvi Jaiswal has played 23 T20Is, scoring 723 runs with one century and five fifties.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, 24, recently joined the club of batters to hit a century in each international format, as he slammed a ton in the third and final ODI against South Africa. He was hoping to be part of the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup 2026, given that he was part of the 15 that were chosen for the 2024 edition.
He had an excellent IPL 2025, scoring 559 runs with six fifties at a strike rate of 159.71. Overall, he has played 23 T20Is for India, scoring 723 runs with one century and five fifties, with a strike rate of 164.31.
Yet, he finds himself out of the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup, as the BCCI selectors felt that the second wicketkeeper should be an opener too and chose to include Ishan Kishan in the squad. Kishan had impressed with a 49-ball century for Jharkhand against Haryana in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy final.
Dilip Vengsarkar called the 24-year-old opener unfortunate to miss out on the ICC T20 World Cup 2026.
"It is unfortunate that Yashasvi is being left out time and again for no fault of his. He has been in tremendous form across all formats of the game, and I don't know what else he has to do to get into the team,” Vengsarkar told PTI.
After his final T20I match in Sri Lanka in July 2024, India gave Test cricket priority for the following six months, and Jaiswal was also asked to focus on red ball cricket. He opened the innings with his past five T20I scores of 93, 12, 40, 30, and 10, all at a strike rate of nearly 200.
"Nobody should leave a match winner out of the team. They are all excellent players, but I am with the selection committee when they judge players on the basis of current form and fitness. The current form does play an important role in the context of selection. And if you ask whom I would have picked instead of Gill, my choice would have been Jaiswal. He has proven time and again what a class performer he is and has always given the team the kind of starts required these days," said Vengsarkar.
The 1983 World Cup winner also stated that Jaiswal lost confidence in T20Is, as he was not picked consistently.
"You are bound to lose confidence if you are made to feel that you are not required in one format. I mean, it will affect his confidence, and this game is all about confidence. And confidence comes when you have performances backed by runs," Vengsarkar stated.
Former India opener and one of the most respected coaches, WV Raman, feels that the chairman of selectors, Ajit Agarkar, must have had a chat with Jaiswal.
"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, with the kind of talent he is, he will play many more World Cups," Raman said.
Vengsarkar had the last word when asked what he would have told Jaiswal had he now been the chairman of selectors.
"I wouldn't have told him anything because I wouldn't have dropped him in the first place," Vengsarkar replied.
(PTI inputs)