table of contents
Yashasvi Jaiswal, who joined the ODI team in place of injured Virat Kohli, made a strong statement by scoring a match-defining century against Afghanistan in the third match of the three-match ODI series. Jaiswal’s century is important as the team heads towards another ODI World Cup, which will be held in 2027.
Jaiswal was named player of the match yesterday for his unbeaten 110-run innings in Chennai. After the match, the young opening batsman spoke about how Indian cricket team head coach Gautam Gambhir has supported him throughout the series.
Why is a century important for Yashasvi Jaiswal?
Ahead of the 3-match ODI series, Yashasvi Jaiswal was not at his best during the Indian Premier League 2026 (IPL 2026) with Rajasthan Royals. The inclusion of the Uttar Pradesh-born player in the ODI squad was a bit of a surprise move by the selectors. He was included in place of Virat Kohli, who was ruled out of the competition due to a hamstring injury. While Virat is mostly a No. 3 batsman, Jaiswal is a pure opening batsman.
In the first match of the recently concluded ODI series against Afghanistan, Yashasvi Jaiswal was on the bench and captain Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma opened the innings. In another surprising move, in 2Ra In the ODI, Gill placed himself at number three and Jaiswal came to open the innings.
The southpaw was out for just 4 runs in the second match, but made a strong comeback by scoring a match-winning century in the third. After the match, the top-order batsman said that he would not have been successful without the support of head coach Gautam Gambhir.
Jaiswal told about the role of Gautam Gambhir
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has shared a special video, where Yashasvi Jaiswal explains how he managed to play extraordinary innings, his working experience with Gautam Gambhir and what will be his next step ahead of the 2027 ODI World Cup.
In the video, the 24-year-old batsman mentioned that national team head coach Gautam Gambhir was regularly talking to him and providing valuable guidance. The batsman further added that despite the heat and humid conditions, he enjoyed working hard in the nets, learning new things and improving his game under Gambhir’s guidance.
“Gautam sir is talking to me, and I know what’s happening, so I really enjoy working with him. He’s always talking to someone. It’s really fun this summer to go to the nets again and again to work hard and learn new things, so it’s amazing,” Yashasvi Jaiswal said in a video shared by the board on its official website.
Jaiswal’s ODI career so far
With one hundred and ten unbeaten runs, Jaiswal has improved his ODI batting statistics. Having made his debut in this format in 2025, he has so far scored 285 runs in 6 matches with a couple of centuries. Currently, the batting average in the format is 71.25.
