Young Indian opener Prithvi Shaw has finally been recalled to the national team for the T20I series against New Zealand at home. It was long overdue and he has got his chance after a huge gap of 537 days. The series will begin later this month in Ranchi. He has been in great form in the domestic circuit and recently scored a record 379 runs in a Ranji Trophy match.
After the big announcement late on Friday night, Prithvi Shaw expressed his excitement by sharing a series of Instagram posts in the form of stories. Shaw, who made his debut for India in 2018, last played for India about 18 months ago, in the second stint in the Indian squad for the tour of Sri Lanka. It is also his only T20I appearance for the team so far after playing six ODIs and five Tests.
Read also: Hardik Pandya to lead India in T20I series against New Zealand
Prithvi Shaw’s absence has been a constant topic of debate in the cricket fraternity as he continues to score a lot of runs in the domestic circuit. In the 2022 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he was the second highest run-scorer with 363 runs in eight matches with one century and one half-century. And last week, he scored 379 off 383 balls in a Ranji Trophy match against Assam – which is now the second highest first-class score by an Indian batsman.
Kuldeep Yadav also returned to the team after playing his last T20 match in August 2022. He will be one of the leg spinners along with Yuzvendra Chahal.
Read also: Irfan Pathan said that Mohammad Siraj deserves to play 2023 World Cup
Meanwhile, Sanju Samson will miss out as he is recovering from a knee injury that ruled him out of the T20I series against Sri Lanka. The BCCI is yet to give an update on Samson’s fitness but he has been replaced by Jitesh Sharma, who will be one of the wicketkeeping options along with Ishan Kishan.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have also been ruled out of T20 Internationals for the third consecutive series after the T20 World Cup and the BCCI release did not include any explanation on their absence.
