Is Prithvi Shaw's Selection In Test Squad For England Fair? Aakash Chopra Answers

Former India batsman Aakash Chopra has aired his views regarding the addition of Prithvi Shaw and Suryakumar Yadav into India’s Test squad for the England series as replacements for Shubman Gill, Avesh Khan, and Washington Sundar who all are ruled out of the series.

Aakash Chopra said that Shaw’s recall to the Test squad is completely fair, as the opener was dropped from the Test team last year after his scores of 0 and 4 in Adelaide, and has worked hard in white-ball cricket to storm his way back into the red-ball setup.

The commentator even believed that if the chance arrives, Shaw might play ahead of Abhimanyu Easwaran, who also has been promoted to the main squad from a standby player, as Shaw has been in thunderous form in Vijay Hazare Trophy, IPL, and recently against Sri Lanka.

“This (replacements coming in) doesn’t come as a surprise, the number of injuries that we have seen already in the Indian camp. You do wonder what’s happening there (in Indian camp). Abhimanyu Easwaran is already there.

“He is part of the squad. But if Prithvi Shaw is going it just feels from outside that he might play before Abhimanyu Easwaran if the opportunity arises,” Aakash Chopra told ESPNcricinfo.

“Is it a fair selection? Yes it is. Shaw was part of India’s tour to Australia. He is someone who has scored a century on debut in Test match. Shaw deserves to be there.”

Suryakumar is not your T20 specialist, has played a lot of long-form cricket: Aakash Chopra

The 43-year-old Aakash Chopra then spoke about the selection of Suryakumar Yadav in the Test squad. He asserted that while Yadav’s recent white-ball exploits may have made opinions among fans that he is a white-ball specialist, but he has been playing red-ball as well for Mumbai for a decade.

He has amassed 5326 first-class runs in 77 matches at an average of 44.01; in the 2019-20 Ranji Trophy, the right-hander scored 508 runs in ten innings at an average of 56.44.

“The guy is in red hot form and the Indian team is looking to cash in on the same form albeit in a very different format. Suryakumar Yadav has got 5000 first class runs. When you look at it from that vantage point, he is not your T20 specialist. He is someone who has played a lot of long form cricket.

“He has been playing for the last 10 years for Mumbai. The recent attention has come via lot of white ball runs. But at the core of Suryakumar’s batting, it is the long form batting.

“If you look at the options, no first class cricket in the last 18 monhts. India isn’t brimming with options in the middle order for once with Shreyas Iyer also not available for selection. If you look at it from all those quarters, Prithvi Shaw and Suryakumar Yadav are perhaps the right choices,” Aakash Chopra further added.

Also Read: IPL Franchises Should Look At Wanindu Hasaranga, He Is A Very Good T20 Bowler – Muttiah Muralitharan