Prithvi Shaw Is The Ideal Candidate To Replace Cheteshwar Pujara: Brad Hogg

Former Australian leg-spinner Brad Hogg believes that swashbuckling opener Prithvi Shaw is better suited to replace an out-of-form Cheteshwar Pujara in the Indian Test team.

Since India’s defeat in the ICC World Test Championship final against New Zealand, pressure has increased on Cheteshwar Pujara due to his poor form and lack of hundreds in the past 2 years.

Despite his heroics in Australia where he scored three half-centuries in the last two Tests, Cheteshwar Pujara managed a mere 841 runs in 18 ICC World Test Championship matches at an average of 28 with 9 50-plus scores.

Pujara’s last Test hundred came over two years ago against Australia in January 2019 and with him registering scores of 8 and 15 across two innings in the WTC cycle, the calls of dropping the Indian No.3 have intensified.

Meanwhile, Brad Hogg, during a recent fan interaction on Twitter, reckoned that Prithvi Shaw is the best candidate to replace Cheteshwar Pujara in Test XI.

While answering a fan’s query, Hogg wrote-

”If anyone was going to replace Pujara it would be Prithvi Shaw. Feel he is more suited there than opening. Has a lot of talent and long future. He is not in the tour group but a wild card choice.”

If anyone was going to replace Pujara it would be Prithvi Shaw. Feel he is more suited there than opening. Has a lot of talent and long future. He is not in the tour group but a wild card choice. #EngvIND https://t.co/8wEF82aq1A

— Brad Hogg (@Brad_Hogg) July 2, 2021

Prithvi Shaw last played a Test match for India in December 2020 when Virat Kohli’s team was shot out for 36 in the second innings of the Adelaide Test.

Shaw was dumped out of the side following a couple of dismissals where he was bowled through the gate. He has since then regained his form, albeit in white-ball cricket, and is currently a part of the Indian team that will take on Sri Lanka in 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is later this month.

With Shubman Gill likely to miss at least the first half of the England series due to an internal injury, reports have emerged that Prithvi Shaw may get a call-up to England but given the quarantine requirements in the UK, he may not be available till the third Test of the series.

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