As the Indian batsman KL Rahul and all-rounder Hardik Pandya have been suspended, BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) have to look for their replacements for the recent away limited-overs series. The young opening uncapped batsman Shubman Gill and the all-rounder Vijay Shankar have earned their ODI call-ups as the replacements of those suspended players. Gill will be available from the New Zealand tour and Shankar is going to be available from the ongoing Australia tour.
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Prior to their suspensions for their controversial comments at the recent Indian talk show, the Indian batsman KL Rahul and all-rounder Hardik Pandya both were in the squads of the ongoing three-match bilateral ODI series against the hosts Australia as well as in the next both bilateral limited-overs’ series squads against the hosts New Zealand (five-match ODI series and three-match T20I series).
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But after their suspensions, the board had to look for their replacements. The 19-year-old opening batsman Shubman Gill is replacing Rahul while the all-rounder Vijay Shankar is going to be the replacement of Pandya. However, Gill will join with the Indian cricket team only in the New Zealand tour while Shankar will join earlier in the ongoing Australia tour.
It is the maiden international call-up for the 19-year-old opening batsman Gill while it is the maiden ODI call-up for the 27-year-old pace-bowling all-rounder Shankar.
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Shankar made his international debut in the T20I format during the 2018 Nidahas Trophy in March 2018. In that T20I tri-nation series (hosts Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh), Shankar played in all the five T20Is. Since then, it is going to be his first international call-up.
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Uncapped Gill was an important member of the India U19 cricket team to win the 2018 ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in New Zealand. Gill was the Player of the Series in that tournament after scoring second-most runs in that tournament as he scored 372 runs in five innings with the average of 124.00 and strike-rate of 112.38. Making his List A debut in February 2017, the Punjab right-handed batsman has impressed with his brilliant batting performances.