Team India are ready to play five-match Test series against England but before that, they faced a big blow in the form of Shubman Gill’s injury. And, due to his injury, the selection process has come on the radar as the team management’s failure to determine the lack of depth among openers in the Test squad for the England series has left it stranded too.

However, India has recently lost the inaugural World Tets Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand and waiting to take on the hosts as well. While Abhimanyu Easwaran, who is also with the team as a stand-by player is likely to replace Gill, many shared their disappointment as he was picked ahead of Prithvi Shaw.

“The team management could have highlighted this when the squad was announced about a month before its departure to England. To be honest, those in the main squad are the best set of openers in the country, but Easwaran is too raw and inexperienced to be sent as standby to England. Shaw should have been sent. Doubt if Kohli was even aware of standby players and had taken it seriously, else he would have raised the matter,” said a former player.

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Meanwhile, a few selectors, in their recent chats with IANS earlier, have questioned Easwaran’s selection ahead of Shaw as well. Notably, Shaw was dropped from the playing XI after the first Test against Australia in Adelaide in December last year after his poor show. But, he has returned to the squad after performing well in the domestic tournament. Shaw finished as the top-scorer in Vijay Hazare Trophy with 827 runs and did well in the Indian Premier League too where he scored over 300 runs, including three half-centuries, in eight matches as well.

Meanwhile, ex-selector Sarandeep Singh, who backed Shaw before Easwaran, has said that Shaw needs to be nurtured.

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“He is like Sehwag. You have to guide him. If he clicks, he can destroy the opposition, just like Sehwag. I think on a tour like England, he or Padikkal should have been picked ahead of Easwaran, who didn’t have a good domestic season the last time,” Sarandeep had told IANS recently.

Former selector Gagan Khoda has also questioned Gill’s place at the top of the order. “Look, Gill likes to play his shots. He plays on the rise. You need someone with patience to bat at the top of the order’ especially in England. Gill’s “lace is in the middle-order,” Khoda told IANS.