‘If you play Prithvi Shaw…’- Aakash Chopra sees no change in opening pair ahead of third T20I

Team India is set to play the final T20I against New Zealand on 1st February at Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad. It will be a series decider game as India levelled the series by winning a low-scoring encounter at the Ekana Stadium on Sunday.

Ahead of the final game of the series, there are a lot of questions about the team selection. Netizens are questioning the place of Wicket Keeper Batter Ishan Kishan and Shubhman Gill over the young Mumbai batter Prithvi Shaw. Kishan has struggled to find his batting rhythm since his double century against Bangladesh, and the turning track has caused Gill a lot of problems. Gill was unable to replicate his ODI performance in T20Is.

Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has now backed the young opening duo. Chopra believes that the Team should stick with their opening combination of Gill and Kishan in the third T20I rather than giving Prithvi Shaw a chance, who is in red-hot form.

Speaking about the possible playing XI on his YouTube channel Chopra Said, “I feel Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill will stay together, and Prithvi Shaw will still have to wait. There are two reasons for that. If you play Prithvi Shaw, he would either score runs or not. If he scores run, it’s fine; but if he doesn’t, then what?”

“What if Shaw fails”- Chopra questions critics

Chopra also feels that judging 23-year-old Shaw based on a single game would be unfair to him. “Are you going to judge that you played Prithvi Shaw and that he didn’t score runs, so let us leave him out? How do you judge a player if you have given him just one match, that too the last game of the series? That’s not right”, added Chopra.

In the ongoing 3-match T20I series, Indian batting has looked rusty on the spinning tracks. The spinning duo of Kiwi captain Mitchell Santner and allrounder Michael Bracewell have put the Indian top order in trouble so far. Indian top order failed to make an impact in the series as both openers failed to give a steady start. In a low-scoring encounter at Ekana, Hardik Pandya led the Indian team and struggled to chase a total of 100.