The request made by the Indian team in England to send either Prithvi Shaw or Devdutt Padikkal as a replacement for injured Shubman Gill in England has been denied by the Indian selection committee led by Chetan Sharma. If reports are to be believed, the decision had many factors behind it. However, the main one was the presence of Abhimanyu Easwaran as a specialised member in the additional squad.
“Selectors have turned down Ind Management’s request to send 2 backup openers (Prithvi & Padikkal). No replacement will be sent. If Gill is out, Easwaran will be drafted in. Rohit & Mayank start as openers and while Rahul was picked in middle order, he can open if needed #Breaking,” senior cricket journalist Vikrant Gupta tweeted late on July 6th.
Both Padikkal and Shaw are in Sri Lanka with the Indian white-ball side to play a three-match each ODI and T20I series, which begins on July 13th at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo. As far as the Indian Test team are concerned, their series against England begins on August 4 with the first Test Trent Bridge, Nottingham.
The other reason being floated apart from the presence of Easwaran is the flight ban to England from Sri Lanka and if either of the two among Shaw and Padikkal is to be sent, they would have to first quarantine at another location in the flying list to England and hence the purpose defeats itself.