New Delhi. In the third and final ODI against Afghanistan, the Indian team not only registered a spectacular victory by 9 wickets but also showed a glimpse of a strong team of the future on the strength of many young players. The real hero of the match was opening batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal, who made India’s path to victory easier by scoring a blistering unbeaten century. Yashasvi scored the second century of his ODI career. During this period he broke Shikhar Dhawan’s record. Dhawan scored the second ODI century of his career in his seventh innings while Yashasvi achieved this feat in the sixth innings.
After this spectacular victory, captain Shubman Gill spoke openly in the press conference. He praised Yashavi Jaiswal, expressed his views on healthy competition for places in the team and openly commented on the performance of young bowlers and all-rounders just before the England tour.
Yashasvi Jaiswal scored the second century of his ODI career.
‘Yashasvi is a brilliant player, but sometimes it is his bad luck to sit out’
While addressing the media after the match, captain Shubman Gill praised the young left-handed opener Yashasvi Jaiswal. In this match, Jaiswal destroyed the Afghanistan bowlers and played an unbeaten inning of 110 runs, which is the second century of his ODI career. Expressing happiness over his innings, Gill expressed hope that this ‘brilliant’ player will continue to perform like this to cement his place in the Indian ODI team.
Gill acknowledged the bitter truth about the team composition and Jaiswal being in and out of the team and said, ‘We all know very well that he is an excellent and brilliant player. It is not easy for any player to sit out of the team. The truth is that if all the main players of the team are available, then Yashasvi becomes the unlucky player who sometimes has to sit out of the playing eleven. In this series, he got a chance to play in some matches and today he took advantage of the circumstances and played a wonderful game. The captain further said that he has full hope that Jaiswal will continue to repeat similar excellent performances in the future and will take full advantage of every opportunity he gets.
Abandonment of batting order and challenge of return of senior players
In the last two matches of this series, captain Shubman Gill himself showed big heart and decided to bat at number three. Gill did this so that Yashasvi Jaiswal could get full opportunity to open the innings with regular captain Rohit Sharma. This experiment of the captain was also very successful, where Rohit Sharma supported his young partner fully and made a huge partnership of 170 runs for the first wicket. During this, Rohit also played a very mature and important inning of 79 runs.
However, the real challenge for the Indian team will come when veteran batsman Virat Kohli returns to the team. In such a situation, Shubman Gill himself will have to vacate the number three spot and come back to the opening slot. Since Rohit Sharma has also scored brilliant runs in this match, it is possible that despite being in form, Yashasvi Jaiswal may once again have to sit out of the playing eleven. When Gill was asked about this complicated situation and headache of team selection, he replied very maturely and said that whenever such a situation arises, he and the team management will handle it well. According to Gill, all the players being in form together is a pleasant sign for the team.
Gave a big hint regarding the England tour team
This series was also very important for the Indian team because right after this the team has to go on a tough tour of England. Gill said that the Indian team for the England series will be announced in the next few days or possibly tomorrow itself. He said, ‘The best thing for us is the good performance of all the players. We will look at the team selection and field India’s strongest and best 11 players on English soil.
Captain impressed by the talent of Gurnoor Brar and Harsh Dubey
In this series, not only the batsmen but also the young bowlers attracted everyone’s attention. Young fast bowler Gurnoor Brar has strengthened his claim for the team going to England by taking a total of 7 wickets in three matches against Afghanistan. While talking about his bowling, Gill praised him but also advised him to improve as a captain.
Gill said, ‘Gurnoor has fulfilled most of the required parameters as a bowler. However, there are some things that a player learns only with experience. I hope he will improve as a bowler with time. If I look a little critically, he conceded a little more runs in this series and on some occasions he also appeared to deviate a little from his line-length. However, Gill immediately encouraged the young bowler saying that he is playing his first international series at the top level and his pace is excellent. All the qualities that a tall, young and express fast bowler should have, are all present in Gurnoor.
Apart from fast bowling, Captain Gill also gave special praise to the young left-arm spinner and all-rounder Harsh Dubey. Gill believes that Harsh Dubey has immense potential to become a great all-rounder at the international level. On the future of Indian all-rounders, he said, ‘If we look at the options of all-rounders, especially left-handed all-rounders, we have an excellent pool being prepared. We have players like Axar Patel and Harsh Dubey in the team, who are very young and can serve India for a long time. When we see talented all-rounders like him, it becomes very important that as a captain and a team, we should show full confidence in such players.
