With the young Indian opener, Shubman Gill likely to miss the entire 5-match Test series against England, Team India is reportedly looking to included Prithvi Shaw as his replacement. From being out of the reckoning in Team India to now being demanded in two separate Indian teams, Prithvi Shaw’s fate has witnessed a dramatic u-turn. The attacking opening batsman was snubbed for a spot in the Indian team for the tour of the United Kingdom but he is currently in Sri Lanka for the limited-overs series.
As per a report in the Times of India, Shubman Gill is likely to be flown back home, with two shin splints. While it was believed that Gill had injured himself during a training session, the TOI report claims that the shin splints happened due to the off-field training workload.
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Mayank Agarwal, Abhimanyu Easwaran and KL Rahul are designated openers and are all part of India’s 24-member squad in the UK. While the suggestions of deploying Hanuma Vihari can also be used as an opener have also been made, the team management is said to be keen on availing the services of Prithvi Shaw.
One of the source of TOI close to Team India said, “Here is a batsman in absolute form right now, playing an inconsequential series (in Sri Lanka) whereas he can be in England and the team will have a cushion to fall back on. It’s been five days now and the selectors haven’t even blinked yet.”
Shaw was dropped from the Indian Test team after having fortgettable outings in New Zealand and Australia. Since then, the young opener has shown incredible form in the Vijay Hazare Trophy as well as the first half of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 campaign.
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Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal will be expected to open togther in teh first Test, but an injury or fitness concern with any one of them would force the team to include Easwaran in the XI, an option that the management isn’t keen on. Prithvi Shaw would need to undergo quarantine procedures in England ahead of the 5-match Test series against England.
