If a report from Times of India is to be believed, young India opener Prithvi Shaw has shifted his focus from Test cricket to T20Is and ODIs for time being and wants to cement in his place in the Indian Team for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2021 to be held in UAE.
Shaw was one of the openers for whom the Indian team management and head coach Ravi Shastri had requested to be sent to England for the five-match Test series, along with Devdutt Padikkal, as replacements for injured Shubman Gill.
Both Padikkal and Shaw are currently in Sri Lanka preparing for the six-match limited-overs series which starts with the first ODI on July 13 and the first T20I on July 21.
But the BCCI has made it clear to the team management that no replacement can be sent for Gill, as the squad already has Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, and Abhimanyu Easwaran (reserve player) as opening options along with Rohit Sharma.
Prithvi Shaw hasn’t played a Test match since his terrible return to five-day cricket against Australia in the Adelaide Test in 2020, where he made 0 and 4 and was dropped for the remainder of the series, with Gill taking his place and doing well.
Meanwhile, a source privy to development in the Indian team, told the Times of India that the BCCI has no intentions whatsoever of sending Shaw to England, in doing so the board is also keen on sending out a very clear message to the opening batsman.
“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 source said.
Furthermore, the source said that Shaw himself doesn’t want to play Test cricket at the moment and is focusing on white-ball matches between now and the T20 World Cup so that he can impress the selectors and book a spot for himself in the Men in Blue squad for the tournament.
“He doesn’t want to warm the bench in England,” say those tracking developments.
(Times Of India Inputs)
