Cricket News

‘Deep Dasgupta’s reckons India can look to Prithvi Shaw as a backup opener for the upcoming 20-20 World Cup’

In the months leading up to the World Cup 20-20 in Australia this year, India has experimented with a variety of top-order permutations and combinations. Suryakumar Yadav has been given a promotion to open the batting alongside Rohit Sharma for the current T20I series against the West Indies. Meanwhile, former India wicket-keeper batter Deep Dasgupta believes that Prithvi Shaw can be used as a backup option in the opening slot.

Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson and Rohit Sharma, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ishan Kishan, Deepak Hooda and Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson and Ishan Kishan, and Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant had been called to open before the management decided to pass the baton to Suryakumar Yadav for the ongoing series, which has also reaped benefits for the team. The team management has tried seven different top-order duos this year. While the latest experiment has been successful so far, the opening pair for the T20 World Cup still is not locked in.

“KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma would be my first choice for T20 World Cup. As a third opener, you can look at options like Prithvi Shaw, who has done extremely well in that opener slot and gives you a different skill set. The way he starts, he might not give you 70s, 80s, or hundreds, but he can give you a brisk start. Ishan (Kishan), if you look at the internationals, he’s done alright. He starts well but lost his mojo a bit now in the last few games,” Dasgupta told CricTracker.

There are a lot of wicketkeepers who are also good batters- Deep Dasgupta

There is also the battle of the keepers that are taking place between Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant to be first-choice gloveman. The Current setup in the Men in Blue has a lot of wicket-keeper batters which is always a good sign for the team and even in case of injury, it will not affect the playing XI drastically.

“There are a lot of wicketkeepers who are also good batters. They can fit into not only as keeper-batters but just as batters. Ishan Kishan, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Dinesh Karthik. I think there are quite a few options. I am also looking at them from a batting perspective. In such a case, you play 2-3 wicket-keepers in the playing XI. For example – KL Rahul as an opener, Rishabh Pant in the middle-order, and Dinesh Karthik as a finisher,” Dasgupta added.