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Yashasvi Jaiswal was among the prominent players who were not included in India's 15-member squad for Asia Cup 2025. The batter failed to make it not just to the squad, but did manage to make it to the 5-player reserve list for the tournament. Notably, the 23-year-old was a part of the Men in Blue's squad for the T20 World Cup in 2024, but still wasn't given a spot this time around.
Though Jaiswal last featured in the T20I format in July, 2024, his explosive style of batting could have helped the Men in Blue quite a bit in the continental tournament. But with there being so many names on offer in the batting department, the selectors decided to not go for the left-hander.
When asked about Jaiswal's snub from the squad, legendary India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar refused to comment and remarked that rather than saying that one player is better than the other, people should show faith in the team that was picked by the selection committee.
"You can only pick XI in the match and you can only pick 15 in the squad. Somebody has to miss out, that's just one of those in Indian cricket. No point in discussing whether A or B or C should've been there. This is now our team. We can all have our opinions before the selection committee picks the team but once the team is picked, we should back it fully. We shouldn't be saying A should've been there or B should've been there. That only creates controversy, which the players don't need," Gavaskar told India Today.
Gavaskar was satisfied with Gill's selection
On the other hand, Gavaskar also shared his views on Shubman Gill getting picked in India's squad for Asia Cup and stated that he had no doubts about the 25-year-old's selection especially after his fine batting display in the recently-concluded Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. He further highlighted the batter's stunning performance for Gujarat Titans in IPL 2025 and added that making him the vice-captain shows that the selectors trust him to captain the side in the future.
“Not surprising at all. He (Shubman Gill) scored over 750 runs just a couple of weeks ago. You cannot exclude a player in that kind of form. Also, he has done really well in the IPL, which concluded just before the tour to England. It's a very good inclusion. Giving him the vice-captaincy is also a way of telling him that in the future, he could be leading the T20 side. I think it’s a very, very good selection,” Gavaskar stated.
India's squad for Asia Cup 2025: Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Shubman Gill (vc), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson, Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh.
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