Prithvi Shaw Could Be Flown To England As Shubman Gill's Replacement: Reports

Prithvi Shaw could soon be on the flight to England and be added to India‘s Test squad as a replacement of the injured Shubman Gill to take on the hosts in the 5-Test series starting August 4 at Trent Bridge.

Shubman Gill has a stress-related injury in his left leg and stands missing out on the entire five-Test series – or at least the first three Tests as he would need about 6-8 weeks to recover from his injury.

Although Mayank Agarwal has been the backup opener for Gill and Rohit Sharma in the last home series against England earlier in the year and is likely to take the spot in the first Test, the team would be required to have back-ups of Agarwal and Rohit. For that Abhimanyu Easwaran and KL Rahul are the other choices in the squad.

However, according to a report in Times Of India, Rahul is chosen as a middle-order backup while Easwaran is inexperienced at the international level – hence the team isn’t confident on playing them at the top.

A BCCI source in the know of developments says that the team is pondering over calling Prithvi Shaw, who is in Sri Lanka for the white-ball series, to England.

“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,” sources in the know told TOI.

It’s more sensible to have an in-form Prithvi Shaw in the team: BCCI source

The BCCI source said that the team understands Prithvi Shaw, who has played 5 Tests so far before getting dropped in Australia and replaced by Gill, and it would make more sense to play him over someone like Easwaran, who hasn’t had proper high-level first-class cricket for a long time due to the pandemic.

Shaw returned home from Australia, and turned his fortunes in a record-breaking Vijay Hazare season followed by thunderous displays in the IPL 2021 for the Delhi Capitals also.

“As against having to fall back on a batsman (Easwaran) who last did his bit in the First Class circuit more than two seasons ago and not many have seen much lately, isn’t it more sensible to have a batsman (Prithvi) who’s in form and the elements of his batting well documented already? The team knows Prithvi, understands Prithvi. If they think he should be in England, then there is no reason why the BCCI should not sending him,” the source added.

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