Ajay Jadeja, Rishabh Pant
Ajay Jadeja (Credits - AFP)

Former India batsman, Ajay Jadeja suggests that since the Indian management trusted Prithvi Shaw over the likes of KL Rahul and Shubman Gill to play in the first Test, they should give the opener another opportunity in the second Test.

Shaw was dismissed for single-digit scores in both outings of the Adelaide Test. In the first innings, the opener inside-edged a Mitchell Starc delivery that was angling away from him on to the stumps for a duck. In the second innings, Pat Cummins fizzed the ball between his bat and pad castling him at the score of 4 runs.

Prithvi Shaw, Michael Bevan, India, Australia
Prithvi Shaw. [Photo-Twitter]
Prithvi Shaw has been a horrible form since the IPL- he recorded 8 single-digit scores in 13 IPL innings for Delhi Capitals, before eventually being dropped ahead of the final against Mumbai Indians. He was also dismissed for a couple of single-figure scores in the practice games against Australia A before being bowled for 0 and 4 in Adelaide.

Prithvi Shaw scored his maiden Test hundred with the same technique: Ajay Jadeja

While speaking to the broadcaster, Ajay Jadeja opined that the management selected the 21-year-old as the opener for the Adelaide Test, despite knowing that Shaw was awfully out of form in IPL and warm-up matches, they should stick with him as a couple of bad innings won’t change much.

Speaking to Sony Sports Network, Ajay Jadeja said, “You played Prithvi Shaw in the first game knowing he did not have a great run in the warm-up games, did not have a great IPL. So I believe you went with him looking at the future. A couple of innings shouldn’t change that.”

IPL, DC, RCB
Prithvi Shaw [Photo-IPL]
Prithvi Shaw’s technique has been under heavy scrutiny – his lack of feet movement, static front foot, and the huge gap between pad and bat – of late. However, Ajay Jadeja reckons that it is the same technique with which Shaw scored a hundred on his Test debut against West Indies.

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Hence, the former batsman believes that a couple of poor performances shouldn’t be the reason for his omission from the team- especially when he was picked over KL Rahul in the first place.

“The technique that everybody else is talking about has been similar with which he got that hundred. There’s nothing new that we’ve seen so how can two innings change that thought process? When you’re looking at a 21-yr-old and playing him ahead of Rahul at the start, a couple of innings shouldn’t change that,” Ajay Jadeja maintained.

India will look to come back in the Test series when both sides collide in the Boxing Day Test on 26th December in Melbourne.

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