India youngster Prithvi Shaw is likely to replace Ishan Kishan for the third and decider T20I against New Zealand, as per recent reports. Shaw has been sidelined for a long, period but earned the call before the series owing to his brilliant performance in domestic matches.
The 23-year-old slammed 379 for Mumbai against Assam in Ranji Trophy this year, which is also the second-highest score in the history of the tournament. But the opener is yet to play a game in the series against New Zealand.
India are playing the three-match T20I series without regular faces like skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and KL Rahul. They are given a long rest ahead of the upcoming four-match Test series against Australia on home soil.
The youngsters are given the chance to play, but so far, they haven’t produced much. Both Kishan and Gill have smashed ODI double hundreds but couldn’t emulate the same form in the shortest format yet.
Related: Australia prepares special spinning pitches to train before Gavaskar-Border Trophy
Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill have struggled to score runs in T20Is
Since his maiden double century in ODIs against Bangladesh last year, Kishan struggled to score runs and could contribute just 63 runs in the five T20Is he played this year at a strike rate of around 90. Gill also found it difficult to score runs in the shortest format despite amassing heaps of runs in the ODIs. With their dipping form in the T20Is, stand-in skipper Hardik Pandya and coach Rahul Dravid can give Shaw a chance to feature in the XI at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Former India opener Gautam Gambhir thinks Shubman Gill hasn’t found his feet in the T20 format in international cricket yet. “Someone like Prithvi Shaw, his basic instinctive game is made for T20 cricket. Shubman Gill is someone whose basic game is made for the 50-over format. How quickly he learns and adapts to this format will decide whether he will be able to play all the three formats,” Gambhir told Star Sports.
It will be interesting to see if Shaw gets the chance in the third T20I on Wednesday (February 1). He hasn’t donned the Indian jersey since July 2021. He played just one T20I, his debut match against Sri Lanka where Dushmantha Chameera dismissed him for a golden duck.
In case you missed:
