Ashwin rips into BCCI for 'ruining' Jaiswal's confidence with repeated ODI snubs

The BCCI announced India's ODI squads for the New Zealand tour on October 16, and the most notable name wasn't in either of them. Yashasvi Jaiswal — 285 runs in six ODIs, two centuries, an average of 71.25 — was left out of both the squad for the first three matches under Shubman Gill and the squad for the final two under Shreyas Iyer.

This is not a single-match omission due to squad rotation. The BCCI split the five-match series into two separate squads and found room for Jaiswal in neither. They picked Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli for their experience. They picked Ruturaj Gaikwad for another opportunity. They picked Ishan Kishan for the opening spot alongside Rohit. But the 24-year-old who averages more than any of them in ODIs? Sent to India A for red-ball cricket in Lincoln.

R Ashwin, speaking on his YouTube channel on October 17, did not mince words.

This is not the first time Jaiswal has been overlooked despite overwhelming numbers. In June 2026, he hammered an unbeaten 110 off 86 balls against Afghanistan in the third ODI at Chennai — his second century in six innings. India won the series 3-0. The selectors' response was to leave him out of the squad for the England ODI series that followed.

That omission drew criticism on social media and from former players, but it could have been explained away as a one-off — a packed top order with Rohit, Kohli, and Gill ahead of him. What cannot be explained away is doing the same thing twice. The NZ tour presented five ODIs split across two captains and two squads. That is ten opening slots. Jaiswal got none of them.

Ashwin pointed out the absurdity of the situation: if Gill is unavailable for the final two ODIs, Jaiswal should have been the automatic replacement. Instead, the selectors went with a different combination entirely. The message to Jaiswal is unmistakable — no matter what you score, the queue ahead of you does not move.

Ashwin's most pointed criticism was not about the omission itself but about what it does to a young batter's mind. He argued that Jaiswal's batting has visibly changed over the past year — not because of any technical decline, but because the lack of game time and the constant snubs are eroding his natural aggression.

This is not an abstract concern. Jaiswal burst onto the international scene as a fearless, front-foot attacker who could take apart any bowling attack in any format. His 110 against Afghanistan was vintage Jaiswal — strike rate of 127.90, clean hitting, total command. But a player who has played six ODIs in nearly two years of international cricket is being asked to stay sharp without any matches to play in.

Jaiswal's coach also spoke out, telling Jansatta that it was unfortunate for a player to miss selection after scoring a century in his previous ODI. That is perhaps the most damning detail — his last ODI innings was literally a match-winning hundred, and the reward was four months of silence followed by a trip to the India A bench.

The 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa and Zimbabwe is less than a year away. India's ODI planning should be crystallising, not fragmenting. Yet the split squad for New Zealand raises more questions than it answers. Gill captains three games. Iyer captains two. Rohit and Kohli are in the squad for their experience. Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan get opportunities. Tilak Varma and Kumar Kushagra are called up for the final two matches. Even Jadeja was dropped to make room.

But through all this reshuffling, India's best young ODI batter by average is nowhere to be seen. The message from the selection committee is that Jaiswal is a Test player who happens to have an extraordinary ODI record, not an ODI player who deserves a consistent run. That is a strategic choice. It is also, on the numbers, a bewildering one.

If India go to the 2027 World Cup with Rohit and Kohli as their settled top-order options, they are betting on 39-year-old and 38-year-old legs holding up across a tournament in African conditions. Jaiswal is not being groomed as their successor — he is being actively sidelined from the format where his numbers suggest he could be their best option right now.

One detail from Ashwin's commentary added a layer of intrigue. He mentioned that the selectors might even bring Vaibhav Sooryavanshi into the picture — the teenage prodigy who has torn through domestic cricket and is already being positioned as the next breakout star. The implication is clear: India's selection committee may be looking past Jaiswal entirely, not just delaying his opportunity.

If that is the case, it would be an extraordinary call. Sooryavanshi's talent is undeniable, but Jaiswal is not a veteran being phased out. He is 24 years old. He averages over 70 in ODIs. He has not failed; he has not been given the chance to. Skipping a generation to the next prodigy while the current one is still producing centuries is the kind of selection logic that only makes sense if the decision has nothing to do with performance.

Ashwin is right. This is unfair.

Yashasvi Jaiswal has done everything the selection committee could reasonably ask of a young ODI batter. He has scored centuries. He has maintained a strike rate above 90. He has performed under pressure in series-clinching situations. He has not had a prolonged failure because he has barely had a prolonged opportunity. Six ODIs in nearly two years is not a career — it is an afterthought.

The BCCI has every right to manage workloads, rotate squads, and plan for the future. But leaving Jaiswal out of both NZ squads while handing debut caps to others is not workload management. It is a signal that the selectors either do not rate him as an ODI player — which the numbers flatly contradict — or are unable to find a spot for him in a format where India are actively experimenting with new combinations.

India are four months from their next World Cup. Their best young ODI bat is playing India A cricket in Lincoln. Somewhere, the math stopped adding up.