Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer criticized by Basit Ali as Gautam Gambhir told to include Yashasvi Jaiswal and this T20I star in ODI team

Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali lashed out at the BCCI's selection committee for not picking Yashasvi Jaiswal and Suryakumar Yadav over Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer in the ODI series against Sri Lanka National Cricket Team. His comments came following India's series loss to the Island nation.

India National Cricket Team had a torrid time with the bat in the series against Sri Lanka National Cricket Team. The Rohit Sharma-led side struggled to get going with the bat in all three games. They looked clueless against the spinners in the entire series and lost their wickets in an unusual manner.

India vice-captain Shubman Gill, who is the highest-ranked India ODI batter, also didn't live up to the expectations. The opening batter couldn't set the stage on fire as he didn't even cross the 50-run mark in the series and gave away his wicket, despite having started well in all three games.

Shubman Gill started the series with a score of 16 runs off 35 balls. After that in the second game, he scored 35 runs, which was his highest score in the series. In the last game, he threw away his wicket and ended with just 6 runs, accumulating 57 runs in the series.

On the other hand, Shreyas Iyer, who is considered an ODI specialist, also failed to get going. The middle-order batter started the series with a 23-run knock before scoring just 7 runs in the second match. In the last game, he managed just 8 runs and ended the series with 38 runs in the three games.

With both Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer failing, Basit Ali made a bold claim, saying that Yashasvi Jaiswal and Suryakumar Yadav are better players. He pointed out that India isn't prepared for the Champions Trophy 2025, stressing that they have just three games left. Speaking in a video posted on his YouTube channel, he explained:

"This series showed, I already knew, but people got to know that Jaiswal is a much better player than Shubman Gill. The selection committee has made a big blunder by not taking Yashasvi Jaiswal. They also didn't take Suryakumar Yadav. What are you doing? The Champions Trophy is coming after 5-6 months. You have just 3 matches left, or you have to play domestic cricket."

Yashasvi Jaiswal has no match with Shubman Gill - Basit Ali

Basit Ali rated Yashasvi Jaiswal far superior to Shubman Gill. He also said that even though Shreyas Iyer has a 48 average, Suryakumar Yadav is a much better player than him. He pointed out that had Yadav played the ODIs, he would've tackled the spinners well. He elaborated:

"Jaiswal has no match with Gill, I'm telling this with experience. No doubt, Iyer has an average of 48 but Suryakumar Yadav is 1000 times better player. On spin-friendly tracks, you need players who can hit sweeps, and reverse sweeps. Suryakumar would've easily tackled all the spinners in the series, Jaiswal also tackles spinners well."

This was the first time that India lost the ODI series to Sri Lanka since 1997. The Island nation sealed the series by the margin of 2-0, with the first game ending in a tie.