Australia vs India 2018-19: Mayank Agarwal and Vijay Shankar Set to Replace KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya

Indian National Cricket team opener Mayank Agarwal and Vijay Shankar are likely to replace KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya for the remainder of the Australia series followed by the limited-overs tour of New Zealand. Meanwhile, the selectors had to name a replacement after CoA suspended the duo for the controversial remarks.

However, this is Mayank Agarwal’s debut call in the limited-overs set-up. The batsman from Karnataka impressed on his debut series against Australia coming in as a replacement for injured Prithvi Shaw. Agarwal registered 195 runs with two half-centuries at an average of 65 in the three innings played. Following the series, Virat Kohli hailed Agarwal for showing calm and composed temperament on his debut match.

Moreover, Mayank Agarwal, who has been part of India A line-up across formats made tons of runs last year. He made 287 runs in four innings including two centuries during India A’s tour of England in June and July. Overall, Agarwal has impressive List A numbers scoring 12 hundred and 14 half-centuries at an average of 48.71.

On the other hand, this is Vijay Shankar’s second time in the Indian dressing room after making his T20I debut in the Nidahas Trophy in March 2018. Shankar’s inclusion comes as a like-for-like replacement for Hardik Pandya might have come easy for the selectors after the Tamil Nadu allrounder finished as the highest run-maker during the one-day leg of India A’s tour of New Zealand in November. Shankar played the role of the finisher successfully, cracking 188 runs at an average of 94 in the three matches.

Meanwhile, India went down by 34 runs in the first ODI earlier today at the Sydney Cricket Ground.