Indian team management requested two openers as replacements for injured Shubman Gill.
The Indian cricket team is gearing up for the upcoming five-match Test series against Joe Root-led England and his team beginning on August 4. Unfortunately, ahead of the crucial Test series, India suffered a setback as opener Shubman Gill was ruled out of the tour due to a leg injury.
However, there are potential backups in Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, and Abhimanyu Easwaran (reserve player) in the Indian squad, but head coach Ravi Shastri reportedly wants Prithvi Shaw and Devdutt Padikkal to fly to England as Gill's replacements from Sri Lanka as per reports.
Reacting to the reports, former Indian wicketkeeper Saba Karim said such talks will only create insecurity amongst the cricketers who are already part of the England tour.
Karim said on India News: “I will never feel it is justified because if you send an additional replacement the players already in the team will feel extremely insecure. There is no need to create such insecurity. I feel you have to show some faith in the job done by the selectors. I still cannot believe that such a demand would have come from the team management. But if it has come, I feel it is not justifiable.”
He continued, “If the team needs a replacement, there is a discussion with the selectors, especially with the chairperson. But which player goes is decided by the selection committee. But the question here is why they need a replacement when they have so many openers in the reserve. It is difficult to say from here what could be the reason behind the team management asking for a replacement.”
Karim signed off by saying, “It is possible that they might be feeling that the situation that was created in Australia, a similar thing could happen here as well. So they want an opener to be in the team as Shubman Gill has come back and it is a long series, there are going to five Test matches played and if you need someone in between, the player will not be able to play because of quarantine.”
(India News inputs)