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India national cricket team batting coach Sitanshu Kotak commented on Yashasvi Jaiswal's future with the team. The supremely talented batter has been warming the bench for a long time to get a stable position in the team across the white-ball formats. But at this point, as Kotak hinted, Jaiswal has no option but to wait with patience for his turn.
Team India is set to face the West Indies national cricket team for a white-ball series. The series will start tomorrow, Sunday (September 27), with the three-match ODI series. On the eve of the match, Sitanshu Kotak made his comments on Yashasvi Jaiswal's chances of playing for the Indian cricket team in the format.
Yashasvi Jaiswal was in form during the ODIs against Afghanistan
Rohit Sharma and the captain Shubman Gill are likely to start the ODI series as the openers. In the presence of Rohit and Gill, there was barely any room for Jaiswal to sneak into the playing XI, as he plays purely as an opener.
Last time he played for the Men in Blue in this format during the ODI series against Afghanistan this year, Virat Kohli was injured. As the replacement for Virat, the Indian team management named the 24-year-old in the team, and he eventually played for the team in the series.
To accommodate Jaiswal in the playing XI against Afghanistan, captain Shubman Gill demoted himself from the opening position to number three. India played without facing any issues with the opening combination of Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi, and Gill at No.3. But it was a temporary solution against a lower-ranked team.
Limited chances but impressive batting stats
Despite a limited number of opportunities in the second-longest format of the game, the young left-handed batter left a strong impression behind. In only 6 One Day International matches and as many innings, he has scored 285 runs at a batting average of 71.25, scoring a couple of centuries. In his previous ODI game, Yashasvi Jaiswal remained not out for 110 runs in Chennai against Afghanistan.
With this type of form, the question arises naturally: why is the talent kept on the bench? The answer is simple from the team management's point of view: they have already well-established multiple proven batters for the opening slots in the format.
Yashasvi Jaiswal is unlikely to play in the India vs West Indies 1st ODI
Yashasvi Jaiswal is currently in Thiruvananthapuram with the Indian cricket team for the ODI series against West Indies but is unlikely to feature in the first match. Ahead of the series opener, the Indian batting coach Sitanshu Kotak claimed that the head coach Gautam Gambhir remains in touch with the emerging batter.
As there are multiple candidates for a limited number of slots, Jaiswal will have to wait for his turn. According to the batting coach, waiting for the much-anticipated turns is also a part of the game.
"Gautam talks to him a lot. Sometimes, there are three keepers, but only one can play. So it isn’t that it’s unfair to someone. So he (Jaiswal) will have to wait for his chances. We follow up with him, and he is always going through his practices," Sitanshu Kotak told the reporters on Saturday, September 26.
