Indian batsman Cheteshwar Pujara has received plenty of criticism in the past few days concerning his batting displays on overseas tours. In the World Test Championship (WTC) final against New Zealand, Pujara could only manage to get 23 runs in two innings.
In fact, in the last five red-ball fixtures, Pujara has registered scores of 8, 15, 17, 0, 21, 7, 73 and 15. Further, it’s been more than two years since the ‘Mr Dependable’ had scored a century in the longest format. His last hundred came against Australia in January 2019.
After the heartbreaking loss against the Black Caps, Indian skipper Virat Kohli had hinted towards making some changes in the Test team. Kohli didn’t take any name, but assumptions were made that Pujara might face the axe.
As the concern for Indian middle-order is rising day-by-day, former Australia spinner Brad Hogg has shared his views on the red-hot topic. Hogg reckoned that the ideal candidate to replace Pujara in the current Indian team is aspiring batter, Prithvi Shaw.
Hogg said all this when he was asked by a user on social media. The fan quizzed whether KL Rahul should replace Pujara in the upcoming Test series against England. Responding to the question, Hogg named Shaw as his choice.
“If anyone was going to replace Pujara, it would be Prithvi Shaw. Feel he is more suited there than opening. Has a lot of talent and a long future. He is not in the tour group but a wild card choice,” Hogg wrote on Twitter.
If anyone was going to replace Pujara it would be Prithvi Shaw. Feel he is more suited there than opening. Has a lot of talent and long future. He is not in the tour group but a wild card choice. #EngvIND https://t.co/8wEF82aq1A
— Brad Hogg (@Brad_Hogg) July 2, 2021
When it comes to Shaw, he was dropped from the Test team after a disappointing show in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21. The right-handed batsman had produced a string of low scores and played his last Test in Adelaide. Therefore, Shaw wasn’t picked for the home Test series against England as well as the tour of the United Kingdom.
However, Shaw has been named in the limited-overs squad for the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka, featuring three T20Is and as many ODIs.
