Irfan Pathan wants Yashasvi Jaiswal to play regularly and gain enough ODI experience before the 2027 World Cup in South Africa.
Irfan Pathan said on Sunday (September 20) that he wants Yashasvi Jaiswal to play ‘regularly’ and get ‘enough’ ODIs under his belt in the lead-up to the 2027 World Cup in South Africa, starting with the three-match series against West Indies. However, the former all-rounder stopped short of explaining how Jaiswal might get those opportunities, because at the moment, there’s no clear pathway for him.
Jaiswal is India’s back-up opener and one that the outgoing chief selector Ajit Agarkar wanted to replace Rohit Sharma. However, the BCCI stepped in to back Rohit to continue for the foreseeable future. Now, India are desperate for Rohit, who’s closing in on 40, to show close to his best form, while Jaiswal has played only six ODIs in his three-year career in the format.
“One player I will have my eyes on, in terms of the number of opportunities he gets in this one-day series against the West Indies, is Yashasvi Jaiswal,” Pathan said on JioHotstar’s ‘Follow the Blues’. “He is the backup opener in the squad, and by the time you reach South Africa for the World Cup, your backup opener should have had enough opportunities. So, whenever there is an opportunity, I would want to see him playing regularly. Obviously, you will have to think about how you create those opportunities, whether you shuffle the batting order or rotate the players, but I hope he gets his chances against the West Indies.”
Jaiswal has shown promising signs in his nascent career, scoring 285 runs, including two centuries, at an average of 71.25.
Why is it difficult to give Jaiswal any game time
Three ODIs make it difficult to rotate the players. One way India might be able to give Jaiswal some game time would be resting Rohit for the third match if it’s not a series decider.
However, that isn’t a straightforward choice because Rohit, who doesn’t play too much cricket otherwise, would also need as many games as he can to be match-sharp. The same goes for Virat Kohli at number three. And when Rohit and Kohli can’t be rotated out, it makes little sense to play Jaiswal further down the order.
