‘Logically, Yashasvi Jaiswal should come in the team first’ – Ex-KKR opener slams selectors for picking Shubman Gill in T20Is

Shortly after India’s T20 World Cup 2026 lineup was announced, Shubman Gill was pulled from the 15-man squad, prompting Aakash Chopra to say that the 26-year-old should never have been the first-choice opener. Instead, the cricketer-turned-commentator believes that the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee should have chosen Yashasvi Jaiswal, who appears more prospective as a T20 batter.

Chopra suggested in a video posted on his official YouTube channel on Monday that, while the pair of Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma is expected to do wonders for the Indian team at the biennial event,

The case of having to drop an opener (Shubman Gill) may not have occurred if Jaiswal had been chosen to play at the top of the order.

“The way Yashasvi Jaiswal plays, logically, he should come in the team first, and he was there. He was part of the team in the 2024 T20 World Cup. He didn’t get a chance to play for a simple reason that there was no place. He even scored a century when he played before that. His name is there among the six Indians to have scored centuries in all formats,” Chopra said.

“However, there were a lot of Tests after that, and he wasn’t picked for T20s. It was believed that Yashasvi was ahead in the pecking order. In the interim, Abhishek and Sanju opened and did well, and suddenly you realize there is no place. After that, when the question of another opener came, India went with Shubman Gill,” Chopra added.

Furthermore, Chopra said how the Mumbai cricketer deserved a longer rope in the Men in Blue’s side for the shortest format, however, since Gill was made the vice-captain, that opportunity simply eluded.

“They not only went with him, but they also made him the vice-captain, which means he cannot be dropped. I had picked Yashasvi in the Asia Cup team I had picked. However, Shubman became the vice-captain, and the rest, as they say, is history. So Yashasvi, who was actually a frontrunner, was forgotten,” Chopra expressed.

Nevertheless, the Suryakumar Yadav-led side will be entering the World Cup with Abhishek and Samson as the preferred opening partners. They also have someone like Ishan Kishan, who can not only open, but also act as the backup wicketkeeping option for the Kerala stumper-batter. The middle-order also has some big names, and the team will be hoping to defend their title with this squad.