Prithvi Shaw
India suffered a batting debacle against Australia on the third day of the Adelaide Test as they registered their lowest ever total (36) in the traditional format of the sport. Not a single Indian batsman was able to reach double figures during the innings, leading to Virat Kohli and Co suffering an embarrassing eight-wicket defeat.
The Indian batting unit resumed the play on 9/1 but skittled in no time against the Aussie pacers. Pat Cummins (4/21) and Josh Hazlewood (5/8) wreaked havoc to hand India their lowest-ever total in Test cricket. After restricting the touring party to just 36, Australia hunted down the target of 90 for the loss of two wickets, gaining 1-0 lead in the four-Test series.
Before the start of the pink-ball Test, a lot of questions were raised over the team selection. While an out-of-form Prithvi Shaw was preferred over Shubman Gill as the opener, warm-up game centurion Rishabh Pant was sidelined to give the wicketkeeping duties to Wriddhiman Saha.
Shaw's dreadful form with the bat continued as the youngster registered 0 and 4 in the first and second innings respectively. Following his lacklustre batting display in the first Test, legendary India opener Sunil Gavaskar has called for Shaw's axing from the side.
According to Gavaskar, Gill, who had scored a half-century in the practice match against Australia, should be given a chance to open with Mayank Agarwal. If India decides to drop Prithvi in the subsequent Test, Gill seems to be the most likely option in front of the team management.
“Prithvi has technical problems, should be dropped in the next Test’ – Sunny bhai wants Shubman to open if he opens for his state Punjab (which he does)” tweeted journalist Vikrant Gupta.
