Former Indian all-rounder Irfan Pathan believes Prithvi Shaw should get his deserved chances in place of Ishan Kishan in T20I cricket. Kishan scored a brilliant knock of 210 runs in the third ODI against Bangladesh but since then he hasn’t been consistent for the team.
Kishan got a chance to open the innings in the T20Is against Sri Lanka and New Zealand but could not grab his opportunities. In the absence of Shreyas Iyer, Kishan got a chance to bat in the middle order in ODIs but could only manage 30 runs in three matches against the Kiwis.
Furthermore, the southpaw managed only 24 runs in three T20Is against the Blackcaps.
On the other hand, Prithvi Shaw has been knocking hard on the selection doors and he was part of the squad for the New Zealand T20Is. Shaw recently scored a brilliant knock of 383 runs off just 379 balls in the Ranji Trophy clash against Assa.
Irfan Pathan said on Star Sports, “Going forward, I definitely believe so. Even in the last game when the series decider was there, a lot of people were asking for Prithvi Shaw to be played. That’s when I said that if you are playing Prithvi Shaw, you need to give him a long run.”
Pathan wants the team management to give a full series to Prithvi Shaw so that he can prove his mettle.
“What is long run? Give him a full series. You can’t give him just one match, especially a series decider. The only thing they will have to keep in mind is that Ishan Kishan was playing not only as an opening batter, he was playing as a wicketkeeper-batter as well.”
The cricketer-turned-commentator feels the duo of Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw will be fantastic for Indian cricket. Gill has been in exemplary form at the top level whereas Shaw is also ticking the right boxes at the domestic circuit.
“The team combination might change a bit when Prithvi Shaw plays and Ishan Kishan goes out but I think whenever Prithvi Shaw gets a chance, it will be a fantastic one because on one side you will get a stable opener, who is Shubman Gill.”
“Then you will get a blockbuster batter in Prithvi Shaw whose strike rate is pretty high. He goes from the word go. So I am really excited for Prithvi to get a long run. I hope he will get it in the future.”
Gill is part of the upcoming four-match Test series against Australia, which will commence on February 9 at Nagpur.
