Shubman Gill sacrifices opening spot for Yasasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli's replacement squanders golden chance in 2nd ODI vs Afghanistan

India are currently playing against Afghanistan in the ongoing ODI of the three-match series on Wednesday, June 17 at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. The Shubman Gill-led side made a surprising change in the playing XI by including Yashasvi Jaiswal into the lineup.

Yashasvi Jaiswal finds place in second ODI vs Afghanistan

Contrary to the first ODI, Jaiswal was given a chance to open the innings against Afghanistan with Rohit Sharma as his partner. This move came as a surprise, as the opening slot was designated for Shubman, and giving the position to Jaiswal meant that the Indian skipper had to play at No.3, which is not his favorable place to bat.

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However, Jaiswal failed to capitalise on the big chance, as he lost his wicket off Saleem Safi's bowling. The left-handed opener tried to cut Safi's short and wide pitched delivery but found Nangeyalia Kharoti, who completed an amazing catch to remove Jaiswal on the score of 4 off 9 balls.

Jaiswal was Virat Kohli's replacement

Interestingly, Yashasvi Jaiswal wasn't selected in the original ODI squad, but Virat Kohli's unfortunate injury led to his arrival in the team. During the time of Jaiswal arrival in the squad also did not make any sense, as he is a specialist opener and was unlikely to feature in any of the game unless and until someone from the top order picks up an injury.

Opportunity wasted by Jaiswal

It would not be wrong to say that Jaiswal wasted this opportunity, as skipper Gill had to sacrifice his opening slot and bat down the order to make way for his inclusion.

India's playing XI:

Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Gurnoor Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav.

Afghanistan's playing XI:

Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Darwish Rasooli, Rashid Khan, Nangeyalia Kharoti, AM Ghazanfar, Mohammad Saleem Safi, Bilal Sami.