Former India cricketer Subramaniam Badrinath believes that the selectors should have given a place to Yashasvi Jaiswal in the squad for Asia Cup 2025. Selection committee chief Ajit Agarkar announced the Men in Blue's 15-member squad for the continental tournament on Tuesday through a press-conference. Jaiswal's absence in the squad became one of the main talking points with multiple former cricketers questioning the batter's snub.
Badrinath wanted Sudharsan to be a part of the squad too
Jaiswal wasn't the only player that Badrinath vouched for as he also mentioned the name of Sai Sudharsan and stated that he also deserved to get a place in the team. He pointed out how the latter wasn't given a chance despite scoring 759 runs and being the Orange Cap winner in IPL 2025.
"I see this mostly as a positive that they are backing a youngster and projecting him for the future. But what about Yashasvi Jaiswal? He has done even better than Shubman Gill. Also, why has Sai Sudharsan missed out after scoring 700 runs in IPL 2025 and performing better than Shubman Gill? Sanju Samson himself is now in doubt to start in the playing 11," Badrinath said, speaking on his YouTube channel.
"So while backing Shubman Gill, you ask what wrong have Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan done when their numbers are better than Gill's. Is this selection based on recency bias? This has been happening in India cricket forever - pick the player doing the best at the moment even if the formats are different. It's not a bad decision but one that's 50-50," he added.
Badrinath also shared his views on Shubman Gill becoming India's vice-captain for Asia Cup and stated that the 25-year-old's performance in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against England played a key role in him becoming Suryakumar Yadav's deputy.
"Shubman Gill hasn't even been consistently in the T20 setup over the last 2-3 years. Yet, he has been made the vice-captain of this particular side. It is clear the influence of his excellent captaincy and performance in the England series despite that being Test cricket. So he is definitely going to open the batting with Abhishek Sharma," Badrinath stated.
Meanwhile, India will be beginning their Asia Cup campaign with the clash against UAE on September 10 before locking horns against arch-rivals Pakistan on September 14. Their group stage will come to a conclusion with the match against Oman on September 19. Suryakumar Yadav & Co. will definitely be aiming to win the coveted tournmament for a record 9th time.