INDIA TOUR OF ENGLAND, 2018

Prithvi Shaw, Hanuma Vihari called up; Vijay, Kuldeep dropped

by Cricbuzz Staff • Last updated on

Even before he led India U19 to a World Cup and scored truckload of runs for India A, Shaw was popular in the India's first-class domestic circuit. © Getty

India have named 18-year-old Prithvi Shaw and 24-year-old Hanuma Vihari in the squad for the last two Tests against England at Southampton and Oval, a BCCI media release confirmed on Wednesday (August 22). Murali Vijay, India's preferred opener in the first two Tests, has been dropped whereas Kuldeep Yadav, who was the showstopper during the limited-overs leg, too fails to find a place in an exponential decline of fortunes across the summer. Both Vijay and Kuldeep had already been overlooked for the third Test in Nottingham.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, still struggling with the lower back injury he aggravated in the third and final ODI against England, continues to be absent from India's squad.

Full squad: Virat Kohli (c), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (vc), Karun Nair, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Rishabh Pant (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Hanuma Vihari

Shaw, who averages 56.72 in first-class cricket with seven hundreds and five fifties, is an opener who has forced his way into the squad on the back of a string of strong performances for India A. His recent scores include 188 against Windies A at Beckenham, 62 against England Lions at Worcester and 136 against South Africa A in Bengaluru.

Even before he led India U19 to a World Cup title earlier this year, Shaw was popular in the domestic circuit. He scored a hundred on debut in Ranji Trophy and then became the youngest player to score a hundred on debut in Duleep Trophy, a record previously held by Sachin Tendulkar.

With Vijay dropped after the pair at Lord's, Shaw's selection indicates change of guard for Indian batting, which has seen only four openers handed debut since Ishant Sharma's debut in May 2007, three of the openers being Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul.

Shaw isn't expected to debut in Southampton though, with India's opening partnership having looked solid with a stand of 60 during each innings of their win over England at Trent Bridge. But that said, Shaw's inclusion is set to create pressure on Rahul and Dhawan, who have flickered in and out of form, admittedly in part due to the musical chairs for the two available slots at the top.

Out of the two incumbent openers, Rahul, with his slip catching prowess and a better overseas record, looks to have a stronger grip on his place in the side.

Vihari, who's batted at No. 3 for India A, comes into the India squad in red-hot form as well, having hit 148 against South Africa A in Alur earlier this month. He is a middle-order reinforcement though, and may have to wait for his chance in a batting line-up populated by Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Virat Kohli himself. Pujara's position, often untenable because of being out of sync with modern Test scoring rates, seems to be the most at risk, although he seems to have earned a longer rope with a gritty half-century in Nottingham.

Additionally, Vihari captains Andhra in the Ranji Trophy and averages a whopping 59.79 across 63 games since November 2010, his highest score being 302 not out.

Kuldeep's exclusion is the least surprising. After having bamboozled England with his left-arm wrist spin in the T20Is and ODIs, there was enough noise to include him in the Playing XI for the first Test at Edgbaston. Kuldeep got his chance at Lord's, unluckily on a green pitch in conditions ripe for swing and seam bowling, where he failed to impress, visibly struggling with the Dukes ball in his first ever Test match in England.

Kuldeep's place further suffered due to the presence of a proven Ravindra Jadeja in the squad. If needed, the 29-year-old left-arm spinner can step in for Ravichandran Ashwin, who suffered through tightness in the hips during the third Test.

Also, the selection committee named a 14-man India A squad for the two four-day matches scheduled to be played against Australia A early next month in Vizag. While Shreyas Iyer will lead that side, Kuldeep, who flies back from England after being left out of the remainder of the Test series, will join the unit.

India A squad:Shreyas Iyer (c), Mayank Agarwal, R Samarth, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Ankit Bawne, Shubman Gill, KS Bharat (wk), Shahbaz Nadeem, Kuldeep Yadav, K Gowtham, Rajneesh Gurbani, Navdeep Saini, Ankit Rajpoot, Mohammad Siraj

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