Virender Sehwag backs Yashasvi Jaiswal for regular India ODI spot

Former India opener Virender Sehwag has backed Yashasvi Jaiswal to become a regular member of India's ODI setup once Rohit Sharma steps away from the format after next year's World Cup in South Africa and Zimbabwe.

According to Sehwag, Jaiswal possesses the ability to succeed across all three formats, but the current composition of the Indian side leaves little room for him at present.

Jaiswal has featured in four ODIs so far and has already made a strong impression. His standout performance came in his most recent ODI appearance against South Africa in Visakhapatnam last year, where he remained unbeaten on 116 from 121 deliveries to register his maiden century in the format.

Despite rating him highly, Sehwag acknowledged that India's current opening combination makes it difficult for Jaiswal to break into the side on a consistent basis.

“But there is no space right now. Shubman Gill is the captain. Rohit Sharma is playing. As soon as Rohit Sharma retires, you will see Jaiswal playing white-ball and one-day cricket as well. Ruturaj Gaikwad might be a competitor of his, though. But if you take three openers, you will definitely see Jaiswal among them,” Sehwag said on a Cricbuzz show.

The former opener pointed out that Jaiswal's ODI opportunities have largely come when senior players were unavailable rather than due to a permanent opening in the squad. However, he stressed that the youngster has consistently delivered whenever given a chance.

“See, he has come into the ODI team only because someone like Gill or Sharma wasn’t available. It was not like that he got the chance and then he didn't perform. He performed very well when he got the chance. It was not like he was dropped after not performing. He was in the team because someone wasn’t playing.

Ishan Kishan is not part of one-day cricket either. He has made a double hundred in ODIs, the fastest. So he is also a player who is in the reckoning. But I would definitely like to see Jaiswal in one-day cricket and T20Is, I mean in all three formats. He is a player who can play all three formats,” Sehwag explained.

Former India batter Manoj Tiwary , who was also part of the discussion, shared a similar view and placed Jaiswal at the top of his list of future ODI openers. Tiwary believes the left-hander should be India's first-choice candidate once senior players move on after next year's World Cup.

“He is number one in my list. After the World Cup next year, two players will retire. He can be chosen before, though. But if that doesn’t happen, then definitely after the retirement of those players, the first name will be that of Jaiswal. After that, the names you [the host] have taken, Sai Sudharsan, Ishan Kishan and Devdutt Padikkal. This should be the order,” Tiwary said.

With competition from players such as Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sai Sudharsan, Ishan Kishan and Devdutt Padikkal, the race for India's future opening spots remains intense. However, both Sehwag and Tiwary believe Jaiswal has done enough to place himself firmly at the front of the queue whenever an opportunity finally opens up.