Prithvi Shaw was ruled out of the first Test in Adelaide after injuring his ankle in practice match at SCG.
During this match, Prithvi Shaw showed that he loves the pace and bounce on the Aussie pitches, scoring a breezy 60 odd while the other opener KL Rahul failed to get going, making just 3 runs.
However, in an unfortunate turn of events, Prithvi Shaw injured his left ankle, while taking a catch on the boundary and was carried off the field by the Indian physio and was then taken to hospital for scans. Later the scans revealed a lateral ligament injury and ruled the young opener out of the first Test at Adelaide. It was said that Shaw will undergo an "intensive rehabilitation program" to become available at the earliest.
Now despite the presence of M Vijay and KL Rahul, the team might be looking for a backup opener for them as there is no timeline on the return of Shaw.
Team COC presents to you three of the best replacements for Shaw in the Indian team in the Test series
Here are the 3 best replacement openers for Team India
FAIZ FAZAL
One of the most technically proficient openers in the country at the moment, 33-year-old Fazal has always been on the cusp of getting an India call-up and has featured in India A teams regularly. Even in the ongoing 2018-19 Ranji Trophy season, Fazal has scores of 131, 151, and 146 in four matches.
He is in the prime of his form and at the peak of his skills and will not be a bad choice as the backup opener for the Indian team with Shaw being injured and no timeline on his return. Fazal has been facing the best of the best on the domestic circuit and on the A tours and probably is the time for him to be given a chance to fulfill his dream of playing for India.
SHIKHAR DHAWAN
Shikhar Dhawan was recently named the Man of the Series in the T20I series against Australia and had come off a good T20I series against Windies at home. However, his inability to score even a single fifty on the England tour in any of the international matches and then against the West Indies in the ODI and Tests led to selectors looking for other options at the top of the batting order.
Dhawan has found some purple patch in the shortest format of the game and had hoped that he would be selected for the Australian Test squad. But the selectors had other plans and he was dropped from the squad.
But with Shaw out, Dhawan is probably the aptest replacement for him, as Dhawan bats aggressively and scores run quickly, just like Shaw. Also, Dhawan has no problems with fast bowlers bouncing him and though his numbers aren’t that great in Australia (167 runs in three Tests with highest of 81); it doesn’t mean that he won’t come back from a bad patch, especially after his exploits in the T20I series.
MAYANK AGARWAL
Mayank Agarwal also top scored in 2017-18 Vijay Hazare Trophy with 723 runs and with the haul of 2,141 runs across all formats, he attained the highest total by any batsman in an Indian domestic season. He was given the Madhavrao Scindia Award for The Highest Run-Scorer in Ranji Trophy by BCCI.
This led to calls for him to be included in the Indian Test Team for England, but he was overlooked. Finally, he was included in the Indian squad for the two-Test series against West Indies at home, but couldn’t make his debut.
Despite his rich haul of runs, Mayank was not chosen for the Australia Test-series also, despite Shikhar Dhawan being dropped and KL Rahul’s inconsistent form.
With Shaw declared unfit for the first Test at Adelaide, and no definite date for return, Mayank might make a strong case for inclusion in the squad as a backup opener.