ENGvsIND: Shaw, Padikkal continue to play in Sri Lanka, no replacement for Shubman Gill.
ENGvsIND: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Thursday confirmed that young Indian openers Prithvi Shaw and Devdutt Padikkal will remain with the limited-overs Indian team in Sri Lanka for the ODI and T20I series and the Indian management in England will have to cover their bases with the available options in the squad.
Shubman Gill’s late injury before the India-England test series put the management under serious pressure to draft another specialist opener in the test team. However, the Indian cricket board has rejected all the requests for backup openers.
The Indian management in England sent an official email to the chief of selectors Chetan Sharma, requesting him for two backup openers in Prithvi Shaw and Devdutt Padikkal however the board refrained from sending the two aforementioned cricketers.
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The officials reckon that if the management needs Prithvi Shaw for the test series, why was he not picked in the actual squad for the test matches. Moreover, the board doesn’t want to rush ahead by sending young Padikkal in the test format. The officials believe that his time will come and will be given an opportunity in the future.
“When Prithvi Shaw was not considered in the pool of 24 players who travelled, why should it be any different now? 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,” said a BCCI official.
“Not that it would’ve made the Board consider a replacement. Be we do admit the communication could have been better,” said the officials.
India, now after facing rejection from the board, will go with Mayank Agarwal as Rohit Sharma’s partner in the opening slot. KL Rahul could also be a choice, but the management is trying to fit Rahul somewhere in the middle order.
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ENGvsIND: Shaw and Padikkal continue to play in Sri Lanka, no replacement for Shubman Gill.