New Zealand vs India: MSK Prasad names the reserve opener for the tour

It’s said opportunities are never lost and the recent episode involving Hardik Pandya whereby he was handed a suspension along with KL Rahul for making controversial remarks on a television show proved that. The exit of Pandya and Rahul from the Indian squad has seen Vijay Shankar and young Turk Shubman Gill replacing them.

While Shankar has been picked for both the Australia (final two ODIs) and New Zealand series, Shubman will be joining the squad only for the New Zealand ODIs and T20Is and national selector MSK Prasad is quite excited about the young batsman who made an impressive mark in the Under-19 World Cup last year in the same country ending up as the man of the tournament.

Shubman has played nine first-class games so far after making his debut in 2017 and also featured for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League last year after his rich World Cup exploits. Shubman, who hammered 268 in his first Ranji Trophy game this season for Punjab against Tamil Nadu, had a productive tour of New Zealand with India ‘A’ preceding it.

“Shubman is comfortable both opening the innings as well as playing in the middle-order. For New Zealand series, we are looking at him as the reserve opener behind Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma. I won’t comment if he will make it to World Cup but he was phenomenal as an opener for India A in New Zealand,” Hindustan Times cites reports quoting Prasad in an exclusive interview.

‘Shubman ready for international cricket’

Prasad also said that he spoke with India colts’ coach Rahul Dravid that Shubman is ready for international cricket. He said it’s the ‘A’ tours that have made a number of players “battle-ready for the biggest challenge”.

Quite a few youngsters made debut for India in recent times – both at home and abroad and they have come up with flying colours. While Rishabh Pant hit a hundred in his debut Test series in England, Prithvi Shaw slammed a century in his debut Test against the Windies at home. Recently, another talented opener Mayank Agarwal hit 70-plus knocks in both the Tests he has played in Australia. Hanuma Vihari and Khaleel Ahmed are two other players who made impressed in their international debuts.

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