Former Indian batter Subramaniam Badrinath has questioned the selectors’ call to not include Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan in India’s Asia Cup squad. While Badrinath said Gill’s appointment as vice-captain makes sense but he is surprised by Jaiswal and Sudharsan’s snub.
Meanwhile, Jaiswal was the backup opener for the T20 World Cup 2024. The left-hander scored 559 runs in 14 matches for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2025 at an average of 43 and a strike rate of 159.71.
On the other hand, Sai Sudharsan top-scored in IPL 2025 with 759 runs in 15 matches for the Gujarat Titans at an average of 54.21 and a strike rate of 156.17.
Badrinath said on his YouTube Channel, “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.”
“So while backing Shubman Gill, you ask what wrong Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sai Sudharsan have done when their numbers are better than Gill’s. Is this selection based on recency bias? This has been happening in Indian 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.”
The former CSK batter believes Shubman Gill has been added to the Asia Cup squad after he led from the front on the England tour. Gill amassed 754 runs in five Test matches at a splendid average of 75.40.
“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 that the influence of his excellent captaincy and performance in the England series despite being in Test cricket. So he is definitely going to open the batting with Abhishek Sharma,” said Badrinath (via the aforementioned source).
Gill scored 650 runs in 15 matches while leading the Gujarat Titans in IPL 2025.
