Asia Cup 2025 Drama: Are Jaiswal And Shreyas Scapegoats Of India's Biased Selection Process?

Shreyas and Jaiswal have not been selected in Asia Cup squad (Source:@thedeepfineleg/X.com)

India is a cricket crazy nation, and it is one of the few things that has a natural ability to bind this incredibly diverse country. There are official and unofficial experts across the country, and so whenever an Indian team is selected for a major multination tournament, it creates a lot of buzz.

Cricket Team Selection, A Tough Task In India

Most of the time, there are complaints about a deserving player missing out from the squad. However, it is also important to understand that selectors can pick 15-16 players in the squad, and not everyone can be satisfied every time.

The people outside the system also sometimes tend to miss things like team combination, conditions, and the player's role in the team. Also, there are certain tournaments where performances get noticed and players get more recognition, and all these ideally culminate into a selection formula of the final product.

Thus, more than the names of players, it is important to analyse the parameters considered while selecting a team. If those parameters are consistent and fair for all competing players, one cannot or should not complain. However, if it is not, then the right questions and accountability of stakeholders involved should be discussed.

This brings us to the selection of the 15-member squad for the Asia Cup 2025. Since the team was announced, there has been a lot of talk about the unfair nature of the selection. Is the selection really unfair, or is it just a case of biased outside voices supporting their individual preferences? Let's dig deeper.

Shubman Gill Over Yashasvi Jaiswal - A Fair Selection?

Firstly, let's talk about Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal. Both are two of the most highly rated young cricketers in the world. They have done well for India in the last few years, and to see any one of them out of India's squad in any format is a tough pill to swallow. However, there are other talented players as well, and when Jaiswal and Gill were busy playing other formats, the duo of Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson performed brilliantly as openers.

Thus, both of them were bound to get selected in the Asia Cup squad. It meant that only one between Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal could fit in, as they too are openers in the T20I format. 

Now, if we compare the stats of both players in T20Is, Jaiswal has a better average, and his strike-rate is 164.31 compared to Shubman Gill's 139.27. Also, there is a narrative about India wanting to play an ultra-aggressive brand of T20 cricket, and so the player who has a strike-rate of close to 165 is expected to be preferred over a player who scores his runs under the strike-rate of 140. 

Comparison Of T20I Stats: Jaiswal vs Gill

However, the Indian selectors decided to keep their Prince ahead of Jaiswal and even made him the vice-captain of the side. So, did Gill get the nod because of his leadership skills or more runs in the IPL 2025 compared to Yashasvi Jaiswal? If these two are the parameters, then it is time for us to include another people's hero - Shreyas Iyer in the picture.

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Shreyas Iyer And Jaiswal Situation: Same Climax With Different Stories

If Shubman Gill is a leader, so is Shreyas Iyer. In fact, Shreyas Iyer has a more proven track record in T20s as a captain. He took Punjab Kings to the final of IPL 2025 while KKR won the title under his leadership in IPL 2024. Talking about IPL 2025 batting performance, Shreyas and Shubman Gill both scored runs at an average of 50, but the former got his runs at a strike-rate of 175.07 compared to Gill's 155.87.

This is not to say that Shreyas Iyer should have been selected in place of Shubman Gill. They were not competing for the same spot, but the argument is that if one can make a place for Shubman Gill for his leadership and IPL 2025 performance, the same criteria should be applied for Shreyas Iyer as well.

"With regards to Shreyas, I mean, you need to tell him who he can replace. No fault of his, nor is it ours. It's just that we have to pick 15 at the moment, he'll have to wait for his chance," Agarkar said in the press conference.

The chief selector, Ajit Agarkar, argued that there was no place for Shreyas Iyer because the people who were already in the T20I scheme of things have done well. Going by Agarkar's logic, the selectors want to honour the performances of players in T20Is. So, why is Yashasvi Jaiswal's better performance in T20Is than Gill's not honoured?

Also, not to forget that Yashasvi did quite well in IPL 2025 with over 559 runs at a strike-rate of close to 160. All these culminated towards one point - the inconsistency of the selection pattern along with the use of different parameters for different players. For Gill's selection over Jaiswal, suddenly leadership becomes the most important factor, but when it comes to Shreyas' selection, the performance in T20Is becomes the main parameter.

Obsession To Make Gill, The Next All-Format Captain; What's The Logic?

There is a general understanding that selectors and team management want to make Shubman Gill the all-format captain, which is why he has been elevated for the Asia Cup. The question, though, is whether it is a compulsion that India should have the same captain in all formats. There are different captains in all three formats currently, and the team is doing quite well in each of them. So, what is the need to lock-in one person without considering other factors? 

The team that is selected for the Asia Cup will represent the whole country, and so its selection process needs to be more accountable and based on some standard cricketing logic. In this case, it seems to be on the basis of the whims and fancies of the people in power.

Shubman Gill has often been called the natural successor of Virat Kohli - Prince will follow the footsteps of the King. However, this obsession of Indian cricket to create a brand, an image around which the whole system will revolve, is not only demotivating for other players but also detrimental to the progress of Indian cricket in long term.

Keep Quiet And Support Your Team; The Only Solution For A Common Man?

Yes, the BCCI would earn more money, and India, with its rich talent resource, would always be among the top cricketing nations. However, from inside, the narratives would, over time, increase around the unfairness in Indian cricket and how brand value and external factors matter more than cricketing logic in selection.

This is not to say that Shubman Gill is a bad player; he is a world-class cricketer, but the fact remains that there are other players who are not getting the fair ground for selection that they deserve. The selection of Harshit Rana over Prasidh Krishna is also a curious case taking us in the same direction. Krishna nailed yorkers in crunch situations in IPL 2025 and was the Purple Cap holder, while Harshit Rana had a poor season for KKR.

Harshit Rana has also played just one T20I match so far, so on what basis has he been selected over Prasidh Krishna? Only the people in power can tell. Maybe that is how the world works. Only a select few have the right to use their logic, while others who live in the illusion of democracy are only required to tow the official line and turn into mindless puppets of the system.

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