“Shaw Shouldn’t Have Been Benched After One Test Match” – Ashish Nehra Slams Indian Selectors

Former India pacer Ashish Nehra looks disappointed with the lack of faith that the management showed in Prithvi Shaw by dropping him after the first Test in Australia following his scores of 0 and 4.

Nehra reckoned that the decision to drop Shaw on the basis of his performance in one Test was harsh, adding that he was not a player with experience of 30-40 Test matches under his belt.

Notably, Nehra is referring to Adelaide Test where India registered their lowest ever Test score of 36. Shaw himself scored ducks in both the innings of the Test match.

Shaw was castled by Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins on the two occasions and his technique came under immediate scrutiny.

“As far as technique is concerned, for any player it is difficult to adjust. Even during the Adelaide Test, he wasn’t a player who had a lot of experience or played 30-40 Test matches. We were talking about a youngster. To drop him on the basis of one Test match was tough,” Nehra told Cricbuzz.

After India secured a historic 2-1 Test series win Down Under, the 21-year old worked on his game and the result is before us — over 800 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Mumbai and more than 300 runs in eight IPL games.

This was after Shaw had faded away in last year’s IPL. Having begun the tournament with a couple of impressive half-centuries, Shaw struggled for runs and registered three ducks.

Like his stance regarding the Australia Tests, Nehra was sure Delhi Capitals shouldn’t have dropped Shaw, especially for his senior pro Ajinkya Rahane, who scored eight runs from two matches.

“It’s one thing that India went on to win the series but even then, I felt that he shouldn’t have been benched after one Test match. Even during last year’s IPL, I felt he shouldn’t have been dropped. He played a few good innings but couldn’t score runs,” Nehra added.

I Will Always Back A Player Who Has More Runs Than Rahane: Ashish Nehra

Further, Ashish Nehra also backed Shaw in T20 cricket. He said that he would prefer explosive batsmen like Shaw, Rishabh Pant, Marcus Stoinis and Shimron Hetmyer ahead of a batsman like Ajinkya Rahane, who lack the flair required in the format.

“But I will always back a player who has more runs than Rahane, when you talk of T20 cricket. I’m not saying that Rahane is not a good player, but in T20 cricket you need explosive players like Shaw, Pant, Stoinis and Hetmyer ” Nehra added.

Shaw Not Part of India’s Squad For WTC Final

Prithvi Shaw was was once again ignored on Friday when the selectors announced squad for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand in England. Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul are the 4 players who could open for India in the 3-month-long tour which also includes 5 Tests against England.

India Squad For WTC Final And Five-Match Test Series Against England:

Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (Captain), Ajinkya Rahane (vice-captain), Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Md. Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, KL Rahul (subject to fitness clearance), Wriddhiman Saha (wicket-keeper; subject to fitness clearance).

Standby players: Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prasidh Krishna, Avesh Khan, Arzan Nagwaswalla