Yashasvi Jaiswal, who received public backing from coach Rahul Dravid ahead of the Afghanistan T20I series, is not featuring in the first match at Mohali. Here is why.

Speaking in a press conference ahead of the first India-Afghanistan T20I in Mohali, India head coach Rahul Dravid had all but confirmed that Rohit Sharma and Jaiswal would be India’s first-choice opening pair for the series.

Jaiswal, who impressed in the last two editions of the IPL and broke the door down into the Indian team in 2023, has done well in whatever opportunities he has had so far. From 15 games, his T20I record reads an impressive 430 runs at 33.07 with a strike rate of 159.25.

“As of now, we will be certainly opening with Rohit and Jaiswal,” Dravid said yesterday (January 10). “We’re really happy with what Jaiswal has done as an opener for us, and he gives us a left-right combination as well at the top.”

However, Jaiswal pulled up sore on the day of the game and has missed out on the first match with Shubman Gill taking his place in the XI instead. Rohit Sharma said that Jaiswal “didn’t pull up well”, while a BCCI release has confirmed that a sore right groin made Jaiswal unavailable for selection.

UPDATE: Mr Yashasvi Jaiswal was unavailable for selection for the first T20I due to a sore right groin.#INDvAFG

— BCCI (@BCCI) January 11, 2024

The Afghanistan T20I series marks the return of Rohit and Virat Kohli to the Indian T20I squad after more than a year. India already had a problem of plenty at the top of the order before the return of the seniors with the likes of Jaiswal, Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan and several others vying for the opening slots. In fact, since the start of the 2022, India have tried 12 different openers in T20Is including Rohit and Kohli.

This series is the last T20I assignment India have before the 2024 T20 World Cup. With such a large pool of players to choose from and not many games left, it wouldn’t take long for hierarchies to change.

Gill, who had a stellar IPL 2023, has struggled a bit of late in international cricket, particularly in the shortest format where six of his last seven games have produced single digit scores. Jaiswal’s injury has provided him with a lucky break and he would like to make the most of it.

India XI for first T20I vs Afghanistan

Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Tilak Verma, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar.

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