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IND vs SL | Sunil Gavaskar justifies why Mayank Agarwal was picked ahead of Shubman Gill

Team India registered a comprehensive win against Sri Lanka in the first Test in Mohali on Sunday. However, the Indian team's batting order was without big names such as Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, who were struggling with form.


Rahane was replaced by Shreyas Iyer, while Hyderabad batsman Hanuma Vihari was promoted to the number three position, occupied by Pujara for several years now.


On the other hand, Shubman Gill, who was expected to be included in the playing eleven, was benched. Meanwhile, KL Rahul had announced that he would not be available for the series. 


Therefore, either Mayank Agarwal or Shubman Gill would have been the choice as the opening partner for Rohit Sharma, but Agarwal went through a challenging phase in South Africa. Keeping in mind Gill's scores in the last three innings (52, 47 and 44), his inclusion was surprising, but the management opted for Agarwal.


The Karnataka-lad scored 33 in the first Test. Still, former Indian opener and commentator Sunil Gavaskar suggested that the management's decision to go with Agarwal was correct. According to Sunny G, the 31-year old batter has the reputation of scoring big hundreds on Indian wickets. 


Gavaskar stated that although Gill is a talented youngster, he hasn't played in any format of the game since the last two-to-three months. Any player needs to have some exposure before being considered in the playing eleven. Gavaskar stated that Agarwal's selection was justified as the right-hander scored heavily on Indian surfaces, so there was nothing wrong with it. 


He also supported Vihari being played at the number 3 position. Gavaskar added that Vihari batted with dogged determination in South Africa, although he got only one chance.


"He (Gill) hasn't played any form of cricket in the last two months. He did not even play Ranji Trophy, so if you have to play for India, you need some or the other type of practice. But, of course, he has the talent. There is no doubt about it. But in the end, it is also about form," Gavaskar told Sports Tak.


"And if you see carefully, Mayank Agarwal always scores big in India's home series. He bats like a boss in India but doesn't score runs overseas. He has at least one big hundred or a double century in the home series. So, he should open," he added. Meanwhile, the batting legend also backed Vihari and Iyer to continue in the batting order," the renowned commentator added. 


"And at No. 3 there is Hanuma Vihari. What has he done wrong? In South Africa, he steadied the tail in the one opportunity he got. He batted defiantly, adding runs in India's second innings. So he should get opportunities," Gavaskar concluded.


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Can’t put the game in Australia’s lap: Ramiz Raja on Rawalpindi pitch

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ramiz Raja has put out a detailed clarification over the Rawalpindi pitch fiasco, where teams could only manage to take 14 wickets in five days of play. A joy kill of a pitch that put a huge dampener on Australia’s return to Pakistan after a gap of 24 years, Raja was at the centre of the wrath from the Pakistan fans. The anger was built due to Raja’s promise from his day of joining where he had promised world class sporting pitches all over Pakistan. In a detailed clarification, the PCB Chairman stated that fans need to understand that he could not just hand over the game to Australia and the pitch was built to nullify a strong Australian pace attack. "We need to beat Australia, and we need to prepare our strategy accordingly, and the strategy is for low-bouncy tracks where reverse can happen, where LBW and bowled will be in play, where our spinners can show their performance, and where the batters, who have grown up on low-bounce pitches, can utilise that advantage,” Raja said. He argued that the pitch needed to suit the batters to help them get into form and the fans should hold their horses because a lot of cricket is still to be played. "So when your opening batting pair and bowling pair are both disturbed and raw, you can't take chances. Our leg spinner wasn't ready, Yasir Shah was unfit, so we got on the field with an under-resourced 15, and Australia, don't forget, are a global powerhouse, and were coming here after winning the Ashes. We respect their talent. So we couldn't go into experimental mode so early, keeping our strengths in mind.” However, he agreed that the game was not a good advertisement for cricket and the pitches will be better going forward in the series. But he pretty much made it clear that there will be little to no advantage to the pace bowlers, and the tracks will remain low and slow to suit the home spinners. "I want to say again that it wasn't a good advertisement, but keep your morale high and keep watching. It's a big achievement to have brought so many great Australian players here, and on an individual level there's a lot to look forward to, from both the Pakistan team and the Australian team. I hope that this series, going forward, will become more interesting, but only one match is done, so don't jump the gun, there's a lot of cricket to be played." On the matter of pitch rehaul across Pakistan Raja made it clear that it takes almost half a year to prepare pitches, and the work could only be started once the 2021-22 season was over. He asked the fans and lovers of Pakistan cricket to be patient and track the development as time goes on.