Whenever India and Australia lock horns with each other, the fans from both the countries are overexcited. With both the teams on par and such high competitiveness, the pressure has certainly escalated in both dressing rooms. However, on the downside, Team India has faced a few injury blows in their current tour Down Under. Earlier, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin missed out the second Test at Perth. The latest to be ruled out of the series is the opening batsman Prithvi Shaw.
While the current Indian opening pair of KL Rahul and Murali Vijay has failed to make a mark in the series so far, Shaw’s injury further adds to the existing batting woes. The young prodigy had a dream debut against West Indies where he scored a century and a half century. Even the renowned politician Shashi Tharoor who is a known cricket enthusiast felt that it was a huge blow to India’s chances in the series.
Tharoor is known to keep his cricketing views every now and then. He also expressed concern over Shaw’s injury. He is of the opinion that Ravichandran Ashwin should be tried at the top of the innings alongside debutant Mayank Agarwal. In his view that would give India an extra batting option in the middle order.
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Shashi Tharoor’s tweet read: “The departure of @PrithviShaw is a bigger setback than the Test loss to Australia. Perhaps we should ask @ashwinravi99 to open with Mayank Agarwal now? He has an organised defence & a calm head on his shoulders. And that wld free up a slot for a middle-order bat or all-rounder”.
The departure of @PrithviShaw is a bigger setback than the Test loss to Australia. Perhaps we should ask @ashwinravi99 to open with MayankAggarwal now? He has an organised defence & a calm head on his shoulders. And that wld free up a slot for a middle-order bat or all-rounder.
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) December 20, 2018
The recent form of both openers Rahul and Vijay has been absolutely disappointing. While Rahul has 48 runs in four innings, Vijay betters him by one run. With Team India totally dependant on players like Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara, the Australian bowlers have managed to make life difficult for the Indian batting line-up.
Agarwal was called up in the squad for the final two Tests as a replacement for Shaw, he is now expected to make his international debut in the MCG Test.
