BCCI will not be sending a replacement for the injured opener Shubman Gill to England and Team India will have to make do with the 23 available players for the series starting next month. Shubman Gill 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.
The Board expects the team management to give Abhimanyu Easwaran, the 25-year-old opening batsman from Bengal, his fair share of opportunities should an occasion arise. And as long as everything goes well, Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal will continue to be the openers in England.
BCCI Won’t Send Replacement For Injured Shubman Gill And Prithvi Shaw Needs To Do Well In Limited Overs To Be Considered For Tests Again
Selectors have declined the request made by Indian team management to send openers Prithvi Shaw and Devdutt Padikkal to England to join the Test squad following the injury of Shubman Gill, who 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. India lost the WTC Final where he made 36 runs across both innings.
BCCI sources confirmed the development and said that “When Prithvi Shaw was not considered in the pool of 24 players who traveled, 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”.
Meanwhile, it is learned that the entire confusion caused in the backdrop of the email sent by the Indian team manager —asking for replacements in the squad — is for the chief national selector to answer. Chetan Sharma, who is believed to have received the letter on June 28, did not communicate with the BCCI officials on the same until the media began reporting on the said letter.
“Not that it would’ve made the Board consider a replacement. But we do admit the communication should’ve been better,” they added.
“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,” is how selectors see Shaw at the moment.
The opener himself though is not keen on flying to England either and instead wants to focus on the white-ball matches between now and the T20 World Cup – in which he’s eyeing a slot.
“He doesn’t want to warm the bench in England,” say those tracking developments.
Prithvi Shaw earned a call-up into the white-ball squad following his excellent form in IPL 2021 (308 runs) and Vijay Hazare Trophy (827 runs).
BCCI Wants To Finalize Washington Sundar And Ravichandran Ashwin To Play First Class County Cricket
Mohammed Siraj missing out on the WTC final was a tricky call considering how the young fast bowler would’ve been ideal in those conditions at Southampton. Sources now confirm that such an instance won’t reoccur and Mohammed Siraj will be in his Test whites when the team walks out at Trent Bridge.
“Even if the team management intends to stick with R Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja in the eleven, Siraj will probably replace Ishant (Sharma). But he’s in, and that’s certain,” say sources.
India had a tough time in the WTC Final at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton. While the batsmen struggled against a potent New Zealand pace attack, the Indian bowlers couldn’t threaten the opposition. Mohammed Shami was the only effective bowler who returned with 4 wickets under his belt while Ishant Sharma managed to pick three wickets in the first innings. Jasprit Bumrah was the only bowler to return wickless.