Sunil Gavaskar wants Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw and Umesh Yadav to play in the first Test against Australia
Sunil Gavaskar has backed the Indian management to pick Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw and Umesh Yadav in the starting eleven for the first Test against Australia. The three players had played an important role in Indiaâs recent 2-0 Test series sweep against the visiting West Indies team.
India won the lopsided series against a hapless Windies side but it was not a true preparation for what is yet to come. After the Test series, India
âLooking at the way Rishabh Pant has settled in the team, I wouldnât disturb the combination at all. He can be someone like Adam Gilchrist or Quinton de Kock to come down the order and if four wickets have fallen early, to take the game away from the opposition. So, that has to be encouraged. He can be destructive. If there is an Ajinkya Rahane or Virat Kohli at the other end, thatâll be an absolutely deadly combination,â he told India Today.
Though Pant has proved his worth as a batsman in the team, his glovework is not as supreme as someone like MS Dhoni, which is what Gavaskar also hinted at.Â
âHis wicket-keeping is improving every day, the more he keeps wickets to Ashwin and Jadeja the better. He hasnât kept wickets to them before. He will get better with time and the more he keeps wickets to them, he will get used to their spin, varieties and heâll be that much better with every game he keeps to them. Unfortunate for Wriddhiman Saha, but with current form and performance he slots into the XI straight away.â
Prithvi Shaw did not do himself any harm by scoring truckloads of runs in the series against Windies that also fetched him the Man of the Series award. He scored 243 runs at an average of 118 runs with a strike rate of 94 in the series.
âThis is a dream start of the young man. He couldnât have asked for a better start and he deserves it. He has been making adjustments and sure he wonât find it easy in Australia. Nobody finds it easy, but he is hungry for runs and hungry for hundreds,â Gavaskar said.
Umesh Yadav became only the third Indian pacer to pick a ten-wicket haul at home in the second Test match against Windies, also bagging the man of the match award in the process. It was no mean feat as Indian pitches are not really pace friendly.
âPicking up ten wickets in a Test in India no small achievement. I would want to see Umesh playing in the XI in Adelaide Test,â Gavaskar said while speaking to Aajtak after Indiaâs victory in Hyderabad.
India will play hosts Australia in a two-month long tour from November 21st where both the team will face each other for three T20s, four Tests and Three ODIs.