The BCCI on October 2 named a second string side for the upcoming ODI series against Temba Bavuma-led South Africa that starts from October 8, and for some reason decided to leave Prithvi Shaw out of it.
The 16-man squad has space for top-order batsmen like Rajat Patidar, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Samson, and Rahul Tripathi.
However, Prithvi Shaw, despite his red-hot run in the domestic circuit for the last couple of years has been overlooked.
Even in recent games, Shaw’s otherworldly hitting saw him smack ultra-fast twin 100s (plus one fifty) in 3 innings across the semi-final and final wins of West Zone in Duleep Trophy 2022.
Is the recent IG story from Prithvi Shaw targeted at the selectors?
Meanwhile, the 23-year-old Mumbai batter has uploaded a cryptic Instagram story the same day as the BCCI snubbed him for the ODI series against South Africa.
Fans have been left intrigued by Shaw’s doing and some feel it is targeted at the Indian selectors, who might have promised him selection only to let him down later.
In the 2021 and 2022 Indian Premier League, Prithvi Shaw had come out as the most aggressive (if not the best) amongst all the Indian openers. His aggregate in the two seasons read 762 runs at a strike-rate of more than 150.
Notably, in a Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021 game, Shaw had smoked 227* off 152 balls with 32 fours and 5 sixes.
Thus, to be brushed away to accommodate players that haven’t done as well as him in the last couple of years in both red-ball and limited-overs cricket is sort of hard on Prithvi Shaw.
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Regardless, Tripathi, Samson and Patidar were all brilliant in the 2022 IPL, the former even carrying his form to recent NZ tour.
Full Indian squad for the upcoming ODI series against South Africa is given below:
Shikhar Dhawan (Captain), Shreyas Iyer (vc), Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Rajat Patidar, Rahul Tripathi, Ishan Kishan (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Shahbaz Ahmed, Shardul Thakur, Ravi Bishnoi, Mukesh Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Avesh Khan, Deepak Chahar and Md. Siraj.