India Tour of England – Prithvi Shaw ready to fly as back openers for England: After too many names being floated as refurbishments for the England tour, as per the information available with InsideSport.co openers Prithvi Shaw, Devdutt Padikkal and Suryakumar Yadav will be the selectors’ choice for the tour of England. All of them will leave for England in the next 24 hours and will not be playing any part in the T20 Series according to a well-placed source in BCCI. However, Shikhar Dhawan’ India’s captain on Sri Lanka tour says BCCI hasn’t made any request to the team there.
“Nothing has been informed to us yet. We will get to know once there is any update from the BCCI management. So in that case, there is no need to change our strategy for the series,” Shikhar Dhawan said at a virtual press conference on Saturday.
The Ravi Shastri-led team management had requested for replacements for injured Shubman Gill and Washington Sundar. As per information available with InsideSport.co, Shaw and Suryakumar will not play in the T20 series starting from Sunday. Devdutt Padikkal is the other player who is being discussed along with Jayant Yadav but InsideSport could not verify the information.
The source further confirmed to InsideSport that even if all three leave Sri Lanka on Sunday, they will not be available for the 1st Test which starts on August 4 as they will have to be in a mandatory 10-day quarantine since they will be travelling from Sri Lanka, a country on UK’s red-list.
India Tour of England: “Yes, we have received a request from team management (in England) for Prithvi Shaw and Devdutt Padikkal. They are in Sri Lanka and will take time for them to join the squad. They will have to be in mandatory 10-day quarantine in England,” a BCCI official told InsideSport.
When asked about Suryakumar Yadav and Jayant Yadav, the official said that their names were still being discussed. “We haven’t taken a call on Jayant and Suryakumar yet,” the official said.
India Tour of England: Earlier, Indian Express reported that the team management had asked for Prithvi Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav and Jayant Yadav as injury replacements. While Suryakumar Yadav’s name came up later due to Ajinkya Rahane nursing a hamstring injury, Devdutt Padikkal is a surprise pick as a backup opener considering Abhimanyu Easwaran has joined the squad in Durham. But the New Indian Express later reported that Padikkal is being seen as a backup option for the tour. The young Karnataka batsman is yet to play an international match and was being considered for the T20 series against Sri Lanka.
Virat Kohli & Co had written a letter to the selection committee asking for Prithvi Shaw and Devdutt Padikkal as injury replacements for Shubman Gill but the Chetan Sharma led committee rejected the request. They believed Mayank Agarwal and Abhimanyu Easwaran could do the job while KL Rahul was the other batsman who could open.
“Yes, Prithvi, Surya and Jayant will be flying to England. Whether they will fly in the middle of the T20 Internationals or post that is being worked out. But yes, these three are our replacement players for the Test series in England. They might just leave after the three T20 Internationals but we will get a confirmation in another three days,” a senior BCCI official told PTI.
But Jayant Yadav is considered a like-to-like replacement for Washington Sundar, who has suffered a finger injury during India’s warm-up match against Select County XI. As Jayant Yadav has a Test 100, he is considered to give India the batting depth. However, with Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel available, it will be difficult for him to make it to the Playing XI.
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