File photo of Murali Vijay© AFP
The Indian cricket team has a number of superstar players. The talent in the squad is such that the selection committee is picking format-specific players for different assignments. Former India opener Murali Vijay, who recently announced his retirement, was asked to name a few superstars in the Indian team during an interaction. While Vijay admitted that there remain many superstars in the Indian team team, skill-wise the likes of Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw have impressed him quite a bit. However, Vijay couldn’t get his head across the fact that Shaw isn’t in the Indian team at the moment.
Not long after breaking into the Indian Test team, Shaw saw himself being frozen out of the squad. Both form and fitness have played their part in keeping the young opener out of the Indian team. Despite putting in a consistent show in domestic cricket, the attacking batter hasn’t been able to break into the Indian team, owing to stiff competition.
In a chat with Hindustan Times, Vijay expressed his admiration for Shaw Gill, as well as Rishabh Pant, but it was Shaw’s exile that baffled him the most.
“There are 15 superstars playing for India. If you are playing for India, you are already a superstar for me. But skill wise I really love Shubman Gill and Prithvi Shaw. They are top players. Rishabh Pant has done a great job for Indian cricket as well. I wish him a speedy recovery. Shreyas Iyer is doing well,” said Murali Vijay
“I don’t know why he is not playing now. You should ask the team management,” he further said, on being specifically asked about Shaw.
Shaw did make the Indian team for the T20I series against New Zealand recently but didn’t get to feature in the playing XI. He would hope to change his situation in the forthcoming IPL 2023 season.
Topics mentioned in this article
