Yashasvi Jaiswal once again missed out on selection in India’s ODI squad for the upcoming series against England despite making a strong statement in his most recent appearance in the format. The left-hander had earlier been overlooked for the Afghanistan series and now finds himself out of contention again. Jaiswal was drafted into the squad for the South Africa ODIs as a replacement for the injured Virat Kohli and grabbed the opportunity with both hands. In the final ODI, the 24-year-old smashed an unbeaten 110 off just 86 balls, guiding India to a comfortable chase of 219 in only 28.4 overs.
However, Kohli’s return from injury for the England series has once again limited Jaiswal’s chances, leaving the youngster on the sidelines despite his impressive century and continued push for a regular place in India’s ODI setup.
Legendary South Africa batter AB de Villiers acknowledged that Jaiswal was unfortunate to lose his place after scoring a century, but said Kohli’s return from injury made the selection decision inevitable given the veteran batter’s stature and recent form.
“Virat Kohli back. Little bit of a tough one on Jaiswal, who was back in Virat’s place, scoring the hundred and now he’s got to make way. No complaints there but it just a little bit harsh on players sometimes when your King comes back, when the main players come back, there is a process they are looking at. So truly makes sense for Virat to step in there and make sure he maintains the kind of form he showed in the IPL,” he stated.
De Villiers also spared a thought for Sanju Samson, suggesting the wicketkeeper-batter was unfortunate to miss out after showing encouraging signs with the bat over the past few months.
“Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul the two top wicket-keepers. The big thing there is no Pant, no Samson. Samson must have been close, closer than Pant, as he had a really good IPL but also prior to that, showing signs of form. Not a lot of surprises there but just for Samson, I feel he was close,” he said on his YouTube channel.
India ODI Squad for England tour:
Shubman Gill (captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ishan Kishan, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Gurnoor Brar.
