Cricket News: Prithvi Shaw and Ishan Kishan should be in India’s T20I squad

Too often, the players looked to bat themselves in before going for the big shots. It makes sense, but it wastes valuable balls if the batter cannot cut loose. 

It is preferred to have batters who don’t take too much time to settle for the T20I squad or, better yet, players who will look to attack from the word go. 

This was especially true for openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma, who were highly conservative at the start. 

Indeed, much was made of KL Rahul’s penchant for constantly taking guard to begin the innings – and then playing out a maiden over, thus wasting six balls in the powerplay. 

This begs the question of whether India needs to look beyond KL Rahul & Rohit Sharma and bring in two other openers who could show more intent from the get-go. Players like Prithvi Shaw and Ishan Kishan fit that bill. 

As left-right hand combinations, they make sense as an opening duo since both have experience in and around the game. 

Indeed, Ishan Kishan was part of the white-ball set-up until as recently as the West Indies series before the Asia Cup. It is, however, a little different in the case of Prithvi Shaw. 

The Mumbai youngster was handed opportunities in the team, but that mainly came in Test cricket. However, his white-ball abilities are nothing to ignore.

Indeed, the one thing he has consistently done for the Delhi Capitals is give them quick starts by looking for boundaries early. 

That hasn’t always worked out for him; it has affected his average at times, given he can score big runs often. 

But it’s done a job for the team, and if he sometimes fails in that pursuit, then so be it. It would be better than openers scoring slowly. 

Ishan Kishan’s ability is well-known, especially since he’s shown it off regularly for India. He can struggle a bit against pace at times but is always looking for big shots, and more often than not, he is successful. 

The drawbacks to the two players come in, where things get a bit muddied. As mentioned, Ishan Kishan can sometimes struggle against quality pace bowling early in his innings. 

Prithvi Shaw, on the other hand, is highly susceptible to the swinging ball. After all, who can forget that time when Ricky Ponting exposed his shortcomings on air – only for Mitchell Starc to dismiss him precisely the way Ricky Ponting feared? 

But, as mentioned before, it would be beneficial more often than not if the team had openers who looked to give the side quick starts instead of simply hanging in there and hoping for the best. 

And, in that sense, the team could do much worse than drafting Prithvi Shaw and Ishan Kishan.