The selection committee announced the squad for the white-ball series against New Zealand on January 13, Friday and much to the surprise of the Indian fans, the talented batter Prithvi Shaw was recalled for the T20I series. For the unversed, the batter scored 379 runs in the last Ranji outing against Assam and many claimed that he must have rather been selected for the Test series against Australia.
Given that he is now a part of the Indian squad for the T20I series against the Black Caps, it remains to be seen if he would be given a go-ahead to feature in the playing XI ahead of Shubman Gill who is fast becoming an all-format player for team India. Post the selection, Shaw took to Instagram to post a series of stories, featuring those who congratulated him for getting selected.
Here are the stories from Prithvi Shaw on his Instagram account:
IND vs NZ 2023 T20Is: Prithvi Shaw shares Instagram stories post recall (Image Source: Twitter)
IND vs NZ 2023 T20Is: Prithvi Shaw shares Instagram stories post recall (Image Source: Twitter)
Could Prithvi Shaw find place in playing XI ahead of Shubman Gill?
For the unversed, Gill was called for the T20I series against Sri Lanka for the first time and his strike rate was the only concern, although one could argue about his poor outings in all three matches. Shaw is known for his aggression and many predict that he might be preferred over Gill.
The other surprise that selectors gave to the fans is the exclusion of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, indirectly hinting at a possible move on from the stars in the shortest format of the game. Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda and Jitesh Sharma would continue their stint with the squad in the series and it remains to be seen if Jitesh would get a game under his belt this time around.
Here is India’s squad for the T20I series vs New Zealand: Hardik Pandya (C), Suryakumar Yadav (vc), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Y Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Prithvi Shaw, Mukesh Kumar
