Swashbuckling right-handed opener Prithvi Shaw missed out from Team India squads as BCCI Chief Selector Chetan Sharma announced a total of four squads for India’s upcoming tours of New Zealand and Bangladesh.
Following the snub, a disappointed Shaw posted a cryptic note on his Instagram Story minutes after the squads were announced.
“Hope you are watching everything Sai Baba,” wrote Shaw on his Instagram story.
When asked about Shaw’s omission from the squads, Chief Selector Sharma said that it is important for the selection committee to give chances to the players who are already there in the team set-up and performing well. However, he said that Shaw will definitely get his chance.
“We are basically looking for Prithvi. We are in constant touch with him. He is doing well. There is nothing wrong with him at all. The thing is that we have to see whether the guys who are already playing and performing are getting their chances. Prithvi will definitely get his chance the way he is batting. Selectors are in constant touch with him. Whenever we are there in matches, we are talking to him, and he will get his chances very soon,” said Sharma.
The likes of Ravi Bishnoi, Nitish Rana and Umesh Yadav too felt that they were hard done by and came up with cryptic posts.
Bishnoi, who was part of India’s Asia Cup 2022 squad and made his ODI debut recently against South Africa, was a surprise exclusion as he had done no harm to his chances with performances in the opportunities he got.
“Comeback is always stronger than setback,” Bishnoi wrote on his Instagram story.
On the other hand, Rana, after playing the T20 series against Sri Lanka in July 2021 hasn’t been on selectors’ radar. Not finding his name in either of the squads, the prolific batter shared an image on his Instagram story which read, “HOPE - hold on, pain ends”.
Veteran pacer Umesh Yadav, who earned a sudden recall in India’s home series against Australia and South Africa as replacement of Mohammed Shami, was also left out of the white-ball squads.
Umesh, who is in the Test squad for Bangladesh series, commented, “May be you can fool me but God is watching you mind that.”