Team India Former All-rounder backs Prathvi Shaw to open for team India

Former India all-rounder Irfan Pathaan has backed Prithvi Shaw to be given a chance as India’s opener, saying he needs to be given a long run. Shaw was included in India’s squad for the three-match T20I series against New Zealand but did not feature in any match. Team India Former All-rounder backs Prathvi Shaw to open for team India.

Speaking to Star Sports, Pathaan said Shaw should be given a chance as India’s opener going forward and needs to be given a long run.”Going forward, I definitely believe so. Even in the last game when the series decider was there, a lot of people were asking for Prithvi Shaw to be played. That’s when I said that if you are playing Prithvi Shaw, you need to give him a long run,” said Pathan.

He said that Shaw needs to be given atleast a full series to showcase his talent, instead of just giving him one match to play.”What is long run? Give him a full series. You can’t give him just one match, especially a series decider. The only thing they will have to keep in mind is that Ishan Kishan was playing not only as an opening batter, he was playing as a wicketkeeper-batter as well,” Pathan added.

The 38-year-old said the opening combination of Shaw and Shubman Gill will be a fantastic one for Team India.”The team combination might change a bit when Prithvi Shaw plays and Ishan Kishan goes out but I think whenever Prithvi Shaw gets a chance, it will be a fantastic one because on one side you will get a stable opener, who is Shubman Gill,” said Pathaan.

Pathaan said Shaw is a blockbuster batter with a high strike rate, adding that he is really excited to see Shaw get a good run of games for India.”Then you will get a blockbuster batter in Prithvi Shaw whose strike rate is pretty high. He goes from the word go. So I am really excited for Prithvi to get a long run. I hope he will get it in the future,” Pathaan added.

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