It’s A Good Opportunity To Send Bhuvneshwar Kumar And Prithvi Shaw To England After Sri Lanka Series Concludes, Says Deep Dasgupta
Jul 23, 2021 at 5:15 PM
Deep Dasgupta, former Indian wicket-keeper has suggested a couple of players, who could be sent to the UK ahead of the five-match Test series against England, which starts on August 4 in Nottingham.
Team India has been marred by a couple of injury bowls. After opener Shubman Gill was ruled out with a knee injury, pacer Avesh Khan and all-rounder Washington Sundar are also set to miss the high-profile Test series.
Deep Dasgupta On England Series:
Speaking on his YouTube channel ‘Deep Point’, Deep Dasgupta said Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Deepak Chahar can be handy options in English conditions.
“With Avesh Khan ruled out even though he was a net bowler, it is a good opportunity to send Deepak Chahar or even Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Both are swing bowlers and are in good form and will be useful in English conditions. They are making the white ball swing, so they can definitely swing the red Duke ball in England.”
The young fast bowler from Madhya Pradesh, Avesh Khan reportedly fractured his finger while fielding for Select County XI during the warm-up game against India on July 20.
In his only Test series in England (in 2014) to date, Bhuvneshwar Kumar had shared the Man of the Series award with England’s James Anderson on the back of picking 19 wickets in five Tests at an average and strike rate of 26.63 and 54.5 respectively.
The 31-year-old right-arm pacer has not played multi-day format cricket since January 2018 when he appeared in a Test in South Africa.
Deep Dasgupta: Sending Prithvi Shaw As An Opener Won’t Be A Bad Idea
With Shubman Gill ruled out, management has requested BCCI to send Prithvi Shaw and Devdutt Padikkal as reserve openers. However, the offer was turned down by the selection committee which resulted in a lot of chaos. But Deep Dasgupta believes having an in-form Prithvi Shaw in England will give India a lot of flexibility in the five-match Test series.
“There has been a debate about sending openers in the last few days but I think the kind of form Prithvi Shaw is in, he can be a good choice. Obviously there is (Abhimanyu) Easwaran, there is Mayank Agarwal and Rohit Sharma, but sending Prithvi will not be a bad idea,” Deep Dasgupta added.
Opening batsman Prithvi Shaw missed being a part of the 20-member squad for the five-match Test series against England. All-rounder Hardik Pandya also was not picked as it seems he is still some time away from bowling full throttle. A notable miss also was pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
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).
The IPL 2020 in the UAE last year did not help his cause, as Prithvi Shaw registered three ducks. Even as he was picked for the tour of Australia, after the two nightmarish outings against the pink ball in Adelaide in 2020-21, the door seemingly shut on him. He then worked upon his technique which worked wonders.