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While most of the Indian cricket fans want to see Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli back in action again for the India National Cricket Team, former Team India cricketer Irfan Pathan presented a different opinion. Instead of backing the veterans, Pathan wished to see Yashasvi Jaiswal opening the innings for the Indian cricket team during the ODI series against the West Indies National Cricket Team, beginning Sunday, September 27, in Thiruvananthapuram.
India and West Indies will engage in an ODI series at the end of this month. Ahead of the beginning of the multi-format white-ball series, Pathan openly backed the young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal. Preferring Jaiswal might sound a bit off, but the former Indian cricketer had his own view.
Irfan Pathan wants to see Yashasvi Jaiswal against West Indies
Because of a clash of schedules, the selectors named two different sets of players: one for the 2026 Asian Games and another one for the West Indies series. While most of the players will travel to Japan to defend their Asian Games medal, a bunch of newly selected players will be up against the Caribbeans at the same time. For one of the opening spots, Rohit Sharma is likely to lead the attack with Virat Kohli in the top half of the middle-order.
As Rohit Sharma is with the team alongside the captain Shubman Gill, Jaiswal has so far received a very limited number of opportunities to perform as an opener in the One Day International format. In limited chances, Jaiswal did enough to impress the cricket fans. Irfan Pathan is among those who are impressed with the batting of Jaiswal.
Irfan Pathan explains why India should play Yashasvi Jaiswal
In the lead-up to the 2027 ODI World Cup, Irfan Pathan said that Yashasvi Jaiswal will be the third choice opener of the team, but ahead of the crucial event, it is the duty of the team management to keep all of their talents, including the reserve players,s prepared to secure a strong set of players. So far in 6 ODIs and as many innings, the 24-year-old has scored 285 runs with two centuries and a batting average of 71.25.
"There is one player who I will keep an eye on in this series. He is Yashasvi Jaiswal. Eager to see how many opportunities he gets, especially in this one-day series in front of the West Indies," Pathan said while speaking on Star Sports.
"See, one thing is sure: Jaiswal is your backup opener. He is your third opener right now. By the time you reach South Africa (for the ODI World Cup), it should not be that the backup opener you have hasn’t got ample opportunities," Pathan added.
Huge chance for the emerging cricketers
He further mentioned that in the absence of stars like Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, and Washington Sundar, it will be a great opportunity for the newly added players like Naman Dhir and Aqib Nabi.
“Shreyas and Axar and Washi (Washington Sundar) are playing the Asian Games, so they aren’t there. It is a huge chance for the rest of the players. It is like a second team where a lot of players are being tried," Pathan said
