Pathan said that combination of Shaw and Gill as openers will be the best for Indian team.
The team management preferred Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill as openers, and though Gill scored a century in the third and final T20I, Kishan failed to impress much.
Irfan Pathan wants the Indian team management to give Prithvi Shaw a longer run as the opener of the team, preferably a full series or two to prove himself. Shaw has played 5 Tests, 6 ODIs, and 1 T20I for India with his last game coming against Sri Lanka in 2021.
"Going forward, I definitely believe so. Even in the last game when the series decider was there, a lot of people were asking for Prithvi Shaw to be played. That's when I said that if you are playing Prithvi Shaw, you need to give him a long run.
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What is long run? Give him a full series. You can't give him just one match, especially a series decider. The only thing they will have to keep in mind is that Ishan Kishan was playing not only as an opening batter, he was playing as a wicketkeeper-batter as well,” Pathan said on Star Sports.
The 38-year-old said the opening combination of Shaw and Shubman Gill will be a fantastic one for Team India.
"The team combination might change a bit when Prithvi Shaw plays and Ishan Kishan goes out but I think whenever Prithvi Shaw gets a chance, it will be a fantastic one because on one side you will get a stable opener, who is Shubman Gill.
Then you will get a blockbuster batter in Prithvi Shaw whose strike rate is pretty high. He goes from the word go. So I am really excited for Prithvi to get a long run. I hope he will get it in the future,” said Pathan.