WV Raman backs Prithvi Shaw to play all three formats for India

Young and dynamic opening batter Prithvi Shaw has earned a reputation for himself in the shortest format of the game. The explosive power-hitting in the Indian Premier League has made Shaw one of the most destructive Indian batters of the current era.

Shaw was absolutely sensational for Delhi Capitals in IPL 2022. He played a total of ten games for the franchise and scored runs at a strike rate of 152.97 and an average of 28.30. However, despite the stunning performance, the batter was overlooked by the selectors for the India tour of Ireland.

India will be playing two T20 Internationals against Ireland under the leadership of Hardik Pandya. However, due to the absence of a lot of prominent players, including Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, and others, the selectors have rewarded the stars of IPL 2022 with a call-up.

However, a lot of eyebrows were raised in the cricket fraternity seeing the absence of Prithvi Shaw from the squad. The young rookie has featured in just one T20 International for India, which came against Sri Lanka last year. 

Former Indian cricketer WV Raman believes that the 22-year-old shouldn't be disheartened for not receiving a call-up. The veteran advised Shaw to be disciplined in his approach and continue to work hard to impress the selectors. 

"It's going to be a little bit of a tough road, but Prithvi is facing it when he is young. Age is on his side, and this kind of reversal would really make him understand a lot of things,"

"He will realize that he got a break when he was young and had a great patch to get into the Indian side. But he needs to keep that going and not take things for granted," WV Raman said, as quoted by Hindustan Times. 

Further, Raman also opened up on how Shaw and Shubman Gill were ignored for the T20I series against South Africa. Earlier in June, the Men in Blue locked horns with Proteas in a five-match T20I series with Rishabh Pant leading the team. 

Though many big players were rested, Shaw and Gill failed to find a place in the squad. Speaking about the same, Raman added that both are talented individuals and have the skillset of representing India in all three formats of the game. 

"Players like Shubman and Prithvi are highly talented. They have been brought up in the current age where they play all formats of the game. They can adapt and go on to play all three formats at the biggest stage in the future,"

"As long as both Shubman and Prithvi keep working on their skills and stay fit, I don't see any reason why they can't play all three formats. Currently, Test cricket is also following the idea of getting runs quickly, with batters belonging to that style of play," WV Raman concluded. 

While Shaw will have to wait to play for India again, Gill has a perfect opportunity to don the whites during the one-off Test match between India and England. The chances of Shubman Gill opening the innings alongside Rohit Sharma are high as India's regular opener KL Rahul has been ruled out due to injury.