Former Indian fielding coach R Sridhar believes Yashasvi Jaiswal has a lot of competition for the opening slot. Even when Rohit Sharma has retired from T20Is, openers like Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Abhishek Sharma, and Sai Sudharsan are waiting in the wings.

Meanwhile, Jaiswal scored 80 runs in three matches of the T20I series against Sri Lanka while opening the innings with Shubman Gill. Furthermore, the southpaw scored 141 runs in three T20Is against Zimbabwe in the recent series after the T20 World Cup. The left-hander scored his runs at an impressive strike rate of 165.88 and an average of 70.50.

Jaiswal was also part of India’s T20 World Cup winning squad but could not get a place in the playing XI as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma opened the innings.

R Sridhar said in an interview with Hindustan Times, “I think he has got a lot of competition. He has Sai Sudharsan breathing down his neck. He has got Abhishek Sharma on his neck. But Yashasvi has done well in Test matches, against England, we saw him score a hundred and then followed it up with a double hundred. He has got the appetite for the big innings. He can play T20 cricket as he has shown in the IPL and the recent Zimbabwe series.”

Meanwhile, Jaiswal is not part of India’s ODI squad for the ongoing three-match series against Sri Lanka and he is yet to make his ODI debut. Jaiswal is known to hit the ground running and takes the attack against the opposition bowlers from the get-go.

However, with so much of competition within the team, Jaiswal will need to grab his opportunities with both hands. 

The third ODI between India and Sri Lanka will be played at R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on Wednesday.