New Zealand Legend Takes A Dig At India For Playing Prithvi Shaw Instead Of Shubman Gill

Team India sprung a big surprise on the eve of the ongoing first Test against Australia by naming Prithvi Shaw in the playing eleven. Shubman Gill was being widely backed to make his debut in the Adelaide Test ahead of the out-of-form Prithvi Shaw.

Not only the fans but former batsmen Allan Border and Sunil Gavaskar, the legends after whom the series is named, had also backed Shubman Gill to play ahead of the incumbent Prithvi Shaw.

“I think Shubman Gill should open with Mayank for the first Test match because he’s shown good form. Allan Border was there for the games [practice games], [and] was very impressed with what he saw from Shubman Gill. So I would imagine that he should open with Mayank Agarwal for the first Test,” Sunil Gavaskar had said.

The comments came after the duo’s contrasting performance in the two tour games against Australia A. Shubman Gill impressed with his technique and his got progressively better as he registered scores of 0, 29, 43, 65. Shaw, on the other hand, looked far from being at his best and registered scores of 0, 19, 40, and 3.

Prior to failing in the tour games, Shaw had also failed to impress in IPL 2020. His duck in the first practice game was his fourth in his last seven innings across formats. India, however, backed the under-pressure opener and named him in the playing eleven for the ongoing game.

The gamble, however, backfired as Shaw departed even without scoring on the very second ball of the game. Australia pace spearhead Mitchell Starc castled him for a duck in the first over of the match after Virat Kohli won the toss and decided to bat first.

Scott Styris unimpressed:

Moments after Prithvi Shaw was dismissed, New Zealand legend Scott Styris took to Twitter to make it clear that he was unimpressed with India’s selection. The former cricketer took a dig at India’s decision as he wrote:

“It should’ve been Shubman Gill day!!!”

It should've been Shubman Gill day!!!@BrettLee_58 @Swannyg66 @DominicCork95 @BrianLara #selectdugout @StarSportsIndia

— Scott Styris (@scottbstyris) December 17, 2020

Also Read: Watch: Mitchell Starc Castles Out-of-form Prithvi Shaw For A Duck

Also Read: Justin Langer ‘Worried’ About Will Pucovski After The Latter Suffers His 9th Concussion