By Force-Fitting Jaiswal, India Are Trying To Fix Something That’s Not Broken

For about eight hours after the start of the first ODI between India and England in Nagpur, there was one question in the mind of every single person: “So, who would have missed out had Virat Kohli been fit?.” 

We now know that it was Shreyas Iyer who would have sat out the match, with the man himself letting the cat out of the bag in the aftermath of the contest. 

The revelation from Iyer is indeed a huge shock: before the England series, the right-hander had scored 773 runs at an average of 55.21 and strike rate of 112.84 across his previous 17 ODIs. He was one of the standout batters for India in the 2023 ODI World Cup and seemed to have mastered the art of batting at No.4.

All this aside, he also had enjoyed an outstanding Vijay Hazare campaign, scoring 325 runs for Mumbai at an average of 325.00 and strike rate of 131.57.

And yet it was Yashasvi Jaiswal who the Gautam Gambhir-led management seemingly wanted to start the Champions Trophy off with. Well, going by their actions prior to the first ODI at least.

The agitation surrounding *how* the management even entertained the thought of dropping Iyer is fully justified, but, first, it is worth looking into what might have prompted Gambhir & Co. to think of having Jaiswal in the XI.

Why has Yashasvi Jaiswal come into the ODI picture?

By now, it is no secret how RHB-dominated this Indian batting line-up is. Remarkably, each of the top five in India’s ODI line-up are righties, and they are indeed the only top side in the entire world to have such a skewed RHB-LHB ratio in the top five. 

But it’s hardly been a deterring factor for the team - just look at how they dominated bowling attacks in the 2023 World Cup (well, till the final at least) even when most teams (if not every team) had a left-arm spinner or a leggie in their ranks. 

But here’s the caveat: all this domination was ‘pre-Gambhir’.

Cast your mind back to August, to the ODI series against Sri Lanka, which was Gambhir’s first assignment as a full-time coach in the format. There, India slipped to their first series defeat in Sri Lanka in 27 years and the defeat was largely down to how India’s RHB-heavy line-up was bullied by the Sri Lankan spinners who turned the ball away. 

Across the three ODIs, India’s right-handers who batted in the top seven were dismissed a total of 15 times. 13/15 wickets fell to spinners who turned the ball away - Dunith Wellalage (5), Wanindu Hasaranga (2) and Jeffrey Vandersay (6).

Barring Rohit Sharma, who averaged 52, the only other competent Indian batter in that series was Axar Patel, a left-hander. And truth be told, it did seem like India could have done with a leftie in their top four in that particular series.

This is mere conjecture, of course, but a lot of the thought process behind wanting to have Jaiswal in the starting XI in ODIs *immediately* might have to do with what unfolded in Sri Lanka; to never have a repeat of what happened across those three games, where India’s RHB-dominant line-up was exploited. 

However, there are two major problems with this line of thinking. 

Why India don’t need Jaiswal’s left-handedness

Disrupting a settled batting line-up

Since June 2023, India have averaged 40.42 runs per wicket in ODI cricket - the highest among all sides in the world during this period. They are the only side, in fact, to average over 40; no one else has even crossed 36. 

This outrageous run-amassing has come on the back of an extremely settled line-up in which the players are not only comfortable with their roles, but thoroughly know what’s needed from them. A top five of Rohit-Gill-Kohli-Iyer-Rahul has been a near-unstoppable force, particularly on good batting tracks (which are the kind of tracks expected in the Champions Trophy).

By force-fitting Jaiswal at the top, India will disrupt this settled line-up. Directly in an ICC event, no less.

For starters, Jaiswal’s inclusion will directly push Iyer out of the starting XI. Iyer who? The man who, since 2020, has the second-best average in the world, batting at No.4.

Now, if the first ODI against England is any evidence to go by, it will be Shubman Gill who will be pushed to the middle-order so that Jaiswal can play up top. 

To his credit, Gill batted exceptionally in Nagpur at No.3 and clinched the Player of the Match award, but then again, you’re talking about moving the position of one of the best openers in the world to accommodate a newbie just for matchup purposes, directly in a mega event. 

Moving Gill from his best position will in itself be a bit detrimental to him, but, on top of that, he will have to ‘adjust’ to the No.4 slot if Jaiswal gets to open. Why would he or India want that?

Oh, we’re assuming Gill will bat at No.4 and not No.3 if Jaiswal opens since the first-drop belongs to Virat Kohli. It is safe to assume Gambhir & Co. will not play around with Kohli’s batting spot. Or is it?

It is also safe to assume that Jaiswal won’t bat any lower than No.3 as a) doing so will defeat the whole purpose of picking him (might as well play Pant instead) and b) he has never batted below No.3 in his List A career.

But either way, the bottom line is this: Jaiswal’s inclusion will come at the cost of India dropping the second-best No.4 in the world and demoting arguably the best opener in the world. 

The conditions in Dubai will not be similar to Colombo

It goes without saying that in the Sri Lanka series last year, India’s RHB-dominated line-up was exposed by the home spinners who turned the ball away. But it is worth noting that India’s right-handers getting bamboozled was also a byproduct of the pitch turning square. 

For record, that particular series between India and Sri Lanka was the most spin-dominated series in HISTORY!  43 wickets fell to spin across three games - seven more than any other three-match series in history. All three games were played in literal dustbowls.

This WILL NOT be the case in Dubai. 

Since 2018, in ODIs in Dubai involving at least one full-member, more than four wickets have fallen in an innings to spin just 5/21 times. The batting average against spin in these games is 36.85.

Dubai is also one of three venues in the ongoing ILT20 2025, and there, spinners have taken just 51/160 wickets to fall at the venue, averaging more (28.6) than the quicks (25.2).

India’s right-handers already showed at the 2023 World Cup that they can handle the ball turning away on ‘good pitches’ pretty well. 

At the 2023 ODI World Cup, India’s right-handers averaged 121.3 against left-arm spinners and struck at 85.7. Meanwhile, against leg-spinners, they averaged 95.3 and struck at 98.3.

So, assuming the pitches in Dubai won’t turn square (going by trends and historical data), India *will not* need a left-hander in the top four to handle the ball turning from right to left; their RHBs have already shown they’re capable enough. 

Should they, by chance, encounter a sluggish wicket, there’s always the option of promoting one of Axar Patel/Washington Sundar or Ravindra Jadeja. And, not to mention, the option of playing the extra batter in Rishabh Pant.

In short, Jaiswal’s time will definitely come, but trying to force-hit him into the XI now might backfire. India already have a good thing going; they’d be much better off not trying to fix something that’s clearly not broken.