'Unfortunate': Ajit Agarkar Explains Yashasvi Jaiswal's Absence From Asia Cup Squad
Ajit Agarkar has said that it was unfortunate that Yashasvi Jaiswal couldn't find a place in India's 15-member Asia Cup squad.
Former India cricketer and chief selector Ajit Agarkar said that it was 'unfortunate' that Yashasvi Jaiswal didn't find a place in the 15-man squad for the Asia Cup, adding that Abhishek Sharma was the one who got a go-ahead due to his performances over the past year in the format.
Abhishek, Sanju Samson and Tilak Varma have been phenomenal in national colours through the last season and it was expectedly tough for the BCCI to drop either of them to accommodate Jaiswal.
Notably, the youngster has been named as one of the standby players, alongside Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel.
'It's unfortunate. What Abhishek has done over the last year or so, plus giving us a bowling option, is required. One of these guys was always going to miss out," Agarkar said while speaking to the media after he and Suryakumar Yadav announced the Asia Cup squad in Mumbai on Tuesday.
Under Suryakumar's able captaincy, the Indian T20 team has a phenomenal 85% record, winning 17 of its last 20 matches. None of these matches featured Jaiswal and hence, it was tough for the youngster to get into the 15-man squad.
Jaiswal was part of the 15-member squad that won the T20 World Cup last year, but didn't play even one match.
Before Jaiswal became busy with Test commitments in the past year, he was playing T20Is and was doing well, including an impressive Indian Premier League.
In IPL 2025, Jaiswal scored 559 runs in 14 matches at an average of 43 and a strike rate of 159.71. It was his next best performance after IPL 2023.
In 22 T20Is, Jaiswal has scored 723 runs at an average of 36.15 with one hundred to his name. His last T20I appearance was during India's tour of Sri Lanka, where he scored 80 runs in three matches, at an average of 26.66 and a strike rate of 177.77.
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