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The selection of the Indian team for the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 has sparked a fierce debate, with former Indian captain and former chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar making a bold statement. Vengsarkar feels that Yashasvi Jaiswal was treated unfairly despite performing well every time he played.
Yashasvi Jaiswal often found himself sidelined due to the presence of senior stars like Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, while Shubman Gill has been favored ahead of him in recent times in T20I cricket.
Now, as the Indian cricket team looks for an extra wicketkeeper who can also open the innings, Yashasvi Jaiswal has missed out once again, this time losing his place to Ishan Kishan in the squad for the ICC T20 World Cup 2026.
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Yashasvi Jaiswal should have picked in India’s T20 World Cup 2026 squad: Former coach’s brutal take
This means the left-handed opener will also miss the upcoming five-match T20I. series against New Zealand. Even in the upcoming ODIs, Gill’s return as Indian captain forced Jaiswal to sit out despite proving his class in all formats.
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In a blunt assessment, Vengsarkar questioned the decision to omit Jaiswal from the Indian T20I side, suggesting that he should have replaced Shubman Gill in the team. The young opener last played T20Is in July 2024 during the Sri Lanka tour, as Jaiswal was asked to concentrate on red-ball cricket.
Despite being away from T20Is, his recent numbers remain impressive. The young explosive hitter’s last five T20I scores are 93, 12, 40, 30 and 10, all at the top of the order, and he has scored at a strike rate close to 200, which fits perfectly with India’s aggressive T20 style.
Dilip Vengsarkar’s outburst: ‘Why leave out a match-winner?’
Vengsarkar feels that leaving out a match-winner again and again can hurt a player’s confidence. In T20 cricket, pace is very important and long deviations from the format can make things difficult. While other players continued to play white-ball overs and stayed in the view of the selectors, Jaiswal slowly slipped because the system pushed him in another direction.
Dilip Vengsarkar was quoted as saying by PTI, “It is unfortunate that Yashasvi is left out time and again through no fault of his own. He has been in great form in all formats of the game and I don’t know what else he needs to do to get into the team. No one should leave a match-winner out of the team.”
The former icon further explained, “You are bound to lose confidence if you are made to feel like you are not needed in a format. I mean that will affect one’s confidence and this game is all about confidence. And confidence comes when you have performances backed by runs.”
Wouldn’t have let Yashasvi Jaiswal down: Dilip Vengsarkar slams Ajit Agarkar
Meanwhile, former India coach WV Raman feels that there must have been discussions between the selectors and Yashasvi Jaiswal behind the scenes. However, Raman feels that Jaiswal’s talent is too great to be ignored for long and he will get more chances on the world stage.
Raman said: “Some conversations cannot be revealed in public but now the World T20 team has been selected and nothing can be done. Jaiswal will have to bide his time but I am confident that the kind of talent he is, he will play many more World Cups.”
However, Vengsarkar insisted that had he been in charge, Yashasvi Jaiswal would never have been left behind. He finished by saying: “I wouldn’t have said anything to him because I wouldn’t have let him down in the first place. »
