India’s head coach Ravi Shastri has recently said that ‘the sky remains the limit’ for young and talented batsmen Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill, both of whom have been in the news since their Under 19 World Cup days. Moreover, they could play the first Test against New Zealand at Wellington as well since Rohit Sharma has been ruled out of the series with a calf muscle injury. Therefore a slot at the top of the order is left for the two talented youngsters who will accompany Mayank Agarwal.
“Both are supremely exciting talents. Regardless of who gets into the XI in Wellington, the fact of the matter is they’re here, part of India’s national squad, and from here on they should know that the sky remains the limit,” Shastri told The Times of India.
“They’re all from the same school, you know. They love facing the new ball, enjoy a challenge. Rohit is unfortunately out so that puts Shubman and Prithvi in contention to open with Mayank. That competition is necessary and that’s what makes a bunch of 15 look strong and stable,” he added.
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India’s tour of New Zealand has been going so-so till date. While they whitewashed the Kiwis in the T20I series by 5-0, they were whitewashed by New Zealand by 3-0 in the ODI series that followed. However, Ravi Shastri wasn’t worried about the ODI series loss as he said that ODI cricket in this calendar year will be relatively irrelevant and also added that they will focus on playing ‘like the world’s No. 1 Test team’ despite missing a few key players like Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya due to injury.
“We need 100 points to be in contention to play at Lord’s (in the World Test Championship final). Two overseas wins out of six Tests will keep us in good stead. We play six Tests overseas this year (two in NZ and four in Australia). So, that’s one objective,” the head coach expressed.
“The other is to play like the world’s No. 1 Test team, because that’s what this team believes in more than anything else. On the Test front, that’s what we’re looking at. Around four to five of our core are missing. Bhuvi could’ve been extremely useful in the conditions here, but never mind. That’s why I said, having options available are always in the best interests of the team,” Ravi Shastri concluded.
