Australia vs India 2018/19: Prithvi Shaw Out Of Series, Mayank Agarwal Named As Replacement

India have suffered a huge blow in the ongoing Test series against Australia, losing their batting sensation Prithvi Shaw for the remainder of the series. Shaw was sidelined after he injured his ankle during the warm-up game against Cricket Australia XI.

Fielding on the deep mid-wicket fence, Shaw caught CA XI opener Max Bryant just inside the rope and fell over while trying to keep the ball in play as momentum carried him beyond. In doing so, he ended up twisting his ankle while landing.

Shaw immediately fell to the ground while grimacing as India physio Patrick Farhart rushed to attend to him. The youngster was then carried off the field as he was unable to put any pressure on his left leg.

The scans revealed a lateral ligament injury, compelling Shaw to undergo an “intensive rehabilitation program” to become available at the earliest.

After the first Test, head coach Ravi Shastri had hinted that the youngster could return for the second Test.

“It was heartbreaking to see him (Prithvi Shaw) go down,” Shastri had told cricket.com.au.

“But the good thing is he’s recovering quickly. He’s already started walking. Hopefully if we can get him to run a bit by the weekend, that’s really good signs.

“With youth on his side there might just be a case where he might recover quicker. We’ll make a call as and when we get closer to Perth,” he had added.

However, Shaw has failed to recover and has now been ruled out of the series. He has been replaced by Mayank Agarwal who was dropped from the team for the ongoing series despite not getting any chance in his maiden series which was against Windies at home.

At a time when KL Rahul and Murali Vijay are struggling to get going, losing in-form Shaw will be a huge blow for India. Shaw had made his debut during the series against the Windies and had scored a century. In the following Test, he had scored a fifty. Even in the warm-up game, he had scored an impressive fifty.

On the other hand, Rahul and Vijay have failed to provide India with any good start so far. In four innings, the duo have added 3, 63, 6 and 0. One of the two are more than likely to make way for the in-form Agarwal in the upcoming third Test, set to start on December 26.