The former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir has come in support of Prithvi Shaw to open for India at the 2024 T20 World Cup. He believes Shaw will succeed in the position if the team’s selectors are considering players other than Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in the shortest format of the game. Since his T20I debut in July 2021, Prithvi Shaw has not appeared in any matches for India.
Due to his continuous solid performances in the domestic tournament, Prithvi Shaw was recalled to the T20I team for the three-match series against New Zealand. However, in the first two T20Is against the BlackCaps, the 23-year-old opener has been warming the benches. In the first two T20Is, Ishan Kishan and Shubman Gill were named rather than Prithvi, but neither of the leading openers have done any damage to the opposition.
While Gill and Ishan were dismissed for 7 and 9 respectively in the first T20I, they managed 11 and 19 alike in the second T20I in Lucknow. However, India won this thriller with the help of Suryakumar sensible and tied the series at 1-1.
While having a discussion over cricket at star sports, the former KKR captain opined,” Surprised again (that he has not got opportunities vs New Zealand). I feel you have got to give him an opportunity and you have to give him a longer rope, especially in the T20 format, because I see him opening the batting in 2024 if the selectors have started to look beyond Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.”
Shubman Gill has performed well in the 50-over format, but Prithvi Shaw is better suited to the T20I version of the game, said the former Indian opener.
Gill, unfortunately, has struggled in T20Is, scoring just 76 runs in his first 5 games.
Gautam Gambhir added, “You have to persist with Prithvi Shaw and Ishan Kishan, and those guys can actually go out there and play with the template that we have spoken about for such a long time. Yes, Shubman Gill has done really well in the 50-over format, but if there is one player in this squad for whom T20 comes very naturally, it’s Prithvi Shaw and that’s his game.”
