'You can look at Prithvi Shaw' - Deep Dasgupta on Team India's opening pair options

In the months leading up to the World T20 in Australia this year, India has experimented with a variety of opening permutations and combinations. Suryakumar Yadav has been elevated to the top position alongside Rohit Sharma for the current T20I series against the West Indies. Meanwhile, former India player Deep Dasgupta believes that Prithvi Shaw can be used as a backup option in the opening slot.

Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson and Rohit Sharma, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda and Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan, and Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant had been India’s six opening pairs before the management went ahead with Suryakumar Yadav for the ongoing series, which has also worked wonders for the team. The team management has tried seven different duos this year, and while the experiment has been successful so far, the opening pair for the T20 World Cup still remains a mystery.

Team’s head coach Rahul Dravid will be focused on selecting the ideal line-up and giving each player a specific role, especially with the mega event taking place less than three months from now. The preferred openers are probably Rohit and KL Rahul, but Deep Dasgupta has added a new name into the mix. He believes that as a backup opener, the selectors ought to try Prithvi Shaw.

“KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma would be my first choice [for T20 World Cup]. As a third opener, you can look at options like Prithvi Shaw, who has done extremely well in that opener slot and gives you a different skill set. The way he starts, he might not give you 70s, 80s, or hundreds, but he can give you a brisk start. Ishan (Kishan), if you look at the internationals, he’s done alright. He starts well but lost his mojo a bit now in the last few games,” Dasgupta told CricTracker.

There are a lot of wicketkeepers who are also good batters: Deep Dasgupta

Dinesh Karthik has assumed a prominent role in the current T20 lineup thanks to his heroics in the last few overs of the innings. On the basis of current form, the senior batter might even surpass Rishabh Pant, but Dasgupta thinks India could fit three wicketkeepers in the playing XI, with KL Rahul as the opener, Pant as the middle order player, and Karthik as the finisher.

“There are a lot of wicketkeepers who are also good batters. They can fit into not only as keeper-batters but just as batters. Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik. I think there are quite a few options. I am also looking at them from a batting perspective. In such a case, you play 2-3 wicket-keepers in the playing XI. For example – KL Rahul as an opener, Rishabh Pant in the middle-order, and Dinesh Karthik as a finisher,” Dasgupta added.