The BCCI made it clear that the team management would not seek any replacement for the injured Indian opener Shubman Gill who has been ruled out of the five-Test series in England due to shin splints that will take a minimum of three months to heal. Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal are set to open for India with Abhimanyu Easwaran as the standby opener.
Gill had a great debut series in Australia but looked out of touch in the home series against England. He was also in poor form in the IPL. Amid speculations that Prithvi Shaw, currently on national duty in Sri Lanka, could be a potential replacement for the stylish right-hander in England, the BCCI stated that no such move was being contemplated and the team would have to make do with the 23 player contingent in England.
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“When Prithvi Shaw was not considered in the pool of 24 players who travelled, why should it be any different now," quoted a BCCI source.
There was also some discussion on Devdutt Padiakkal who made a name for himself by outscoring both Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers in the 2020 IPL in the UAE and has been a prolific scorer in the domestic circuit but the BCCI was not keen to send the left-hander to England.
“As for Devdutt Padikkal, well, he’s a great talent but doesn’t deserve to be pushed to the wall like this. His time will come," stated the BCCI.
The BCCI also wants Shaw to do the hard yards in domestic cricket and prove himself consistently in the limited overs before he can again be considered for a spot in the Test team. The dynamic batsman has played 5 Tests and aggregated 339 runs at an average of 42.37 and strike rate of 86.04 including a hundred and two fifties. After a fine start in the format his numbers went down with poor performances in New Zealand and Australia.
“He really needs to pull up his socks if he fancies himself in Tests. The opportunities so far, his own commitment to the format – they’ve all not matched up to the potential he’s shown. There’s work to do,” quoted a BCCI source.
Shaw is yet to make his debut for India in the T20 format and with the WT20 scheduled for October-November he is keen to cement a place in the Indian XI.
“He doesn’t want to warm the bench in England,” said a source.
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