Vengsarkar wants India to play Prithvi Shaw in The Oval Test

India might have already lost the Test series versus England but their experiment with the opening combination might not have ended yet. Former Indian captain and chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar believes India should not stop short of playing youngster Prithvi Shaw in the final match of the series starting at the Oval on September 7. India trail the series 1-3 and hope to make the scoreline a better read at 3-2 than 4-1.

The 18-year-old Shaw’s short cricketing career has always been promising but the year 2018 proved to be particularly special for him as far as international cricket is concerned. He started the year with a bang by guiding India to yet another Under-19 World Cup victory. He was picked for the Indian Test squad last month to replace an out-of-form Murali Vijay for the last two matches. And with KL Rahul proving to a disaster in the series, chances are high that Shaw also makes his Test debut in the final Test.

No harm playing Shaw now since series is lost

“Since they have selected young Prithvi Shaw, they should play him in the last Test match as both the openers failed time and again, though I feel it would be right to induct Prithvi in a home series rather than in England. However, the selectors have shown confidence in him and since the series is lost, there’s no harm in trying the talented young man,” Mumbai Mirror quoted Vengsarkar as saying.

The Mumbai batsman made his first-class debut in January 2017 in the semi-finals of the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy against Tamil Nadu and scored a century in the second innings of the match to see his side win. The right-hand bat also scored a century in his debut game in Duleep Trophy to match the feat of legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar who was the first to score a century both in Ranji and Duleep Trophy debut.

In between winning the U-19 World Cup and getting picked for the Test squad in England, Shaw also impressed all with his show in the Indian Premier League 2018. He also had a few good outings for India ‘A’, especially in the tour of England a few months ago as well as against South Africa ‘A’ at home.

If Shaw plays the final Test as an opener, it will mean India having changed their opening combination three times in five matches. While Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan opened in Birmingham in the first Test, it was Vijay-Rahul combination at Lord’s in the second Test. In the third Test at Trent Bridge, Dhawan returned at the expense of Vijay and paired up with Rahul and the same combination continued in the fourth Test in Southampton.

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