Reports: Prithvi Shaw to be named as third opener in Tests for the upcoming New Zealand tour

The Indian team sits pretty at the top of the ICC World Test Championship points table with 360 points to their name from seven wins from seven games. They have played 2 Tests away from home in West Indies, while have faced South Africa and Bangladesh at home in five Test matches. The performance has been top-notch, but their biggest challenge awaits them.

India will be travelling to New Zealand for a series of five T20I matches, three ODIs and two Test matches in January 2020. So far, the Indian team has been performing well, especially at the top with Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal scoring double tons against South Africa and dominating from the start. It seems the selectors want to provide the duo with some backup for the overseas tour and hence are set to name Prithvi Shaw as the backup opener for the Kiwi series.

Prithvi Shaw set to be named as the third opener

Prithvi Shaw had a tremendous start to his Test career against West Indies last year when he scored a century on debut and scored another half-century in the second Test as well. He had travelled to Australia as well to continue his career, but injured his ankle badly during the warmup game down under and was ruled out for an extensive amount of time from the game.

Then came the suspension due to failing a drug test and by then Mayank Agarwal and Rohit Sharma cemented their places at the top. Shaw, on the other hand, has made a good comeback into the Mumbai side with an elegant 66 against Baroda in the opening Ranji Trophy game. He had good outings in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy as well and the selectors are looking at him to be the backup opener for the New Zealand tour.

“The selection committee is of the view that it’s better that Test specialists travel early to get used to conditions. It will help them get enough practice,” BCCI source was quoted as saying by Indian Express. Shaw had said that he needs to keep scoring runs to impress selectors and making it back into the team.

Shaw, 20, has been regarded as a prodigy ever since he made a record score of 546 in a Harris Shield elite division match. He then made quite an impact in the IPL for Delhi Capitals and even got a recommendation from Brian Lara, who named him along with Rohit and Warner, as some batsmen who might break his record Test score of 400*.

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