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“You could have played him in the T20Is against England” – Aakash Chopra on Yashasvi Jaiswal’s selection for Champions Trophy squad
By SMCS - Jan 20, 2025 10:00 am
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Former India player turned commentator Aakash Chopra has questioned why Yashasvi Jaiswal wasn’t picked in Team India’s squad for the upcoming T20I series against England if he was in the selectors’ scheme of things for the 2025 Champions Trophy as well. He stated
that although the youngster was included in the Indian squad for the ODI series, he was unlikely to play a game as well.

Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal

In a video shared on his YouTube channel ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “You will find Gill along with Rohit, and whoever was raising question marks on Gill, that he is not scoring runs and should be dropped, and asking who his PR is, he has been made the vice-captain. It means he is the heir apparent. They were focusing on him earlier, doing it now too, and, to be fair, they should as well. His numbers in ODIs are very, very good.”

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“No one had a doubt that Yashasvi Jaiswal would be the third opener, and he is. However, I would say a small thing here. He is there but will neither play any matches against England nor come in the Champions Trophy XI at the start. You could have played him in the T20Is against England,” Chopra added.

Shreyas Iyer
Shreyas Iyer

In the same video, Aakash Chopra also shared that Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, and KL Rahul deserved to be in the squad.

“That makes it your three openers. After that, you have Kohli. That had to be the case. Then Shreyas Iyer is there. That too had to happen. KL Rahul is there. He too had to be there. He is your first wicketkeeper-batter. Along with them, Hardik Pandya. So your top six are sorted. There is no tension in that. In my opinion, the top six are looking excellent and everyone’s performance in the last year or two in white-ball cricket has been absolutely outstanding. So why should you change? Why fix it if ain’t broken. The batting is looking okay,” Aakash Chopra concluded.