Prithvi Shaw or Mayank Agarwal? India keep everyone guessing

Wah Cricket has learnt that the 18-year-old Mumbaikar may just pip the 27-year-old Bengaluru boy in Rajkot as the partner of India's first choice opener KL Rahul for the first Test match against the West Indies.

India will enter into unfamiliar territories in their own backyard against the West Indies. The unfamiliarity has got nothing do with the venue – Rajkot, where India drew their only Test against England in 2016 – or the opponents – several notches below India’s firepower - but it is centred on their opening pair.

Whether in good form or bad, India have not played a Test match with both Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan out of the playing XI since the latter’s debut in November 2013. The last time India had an opening pair bereft of Dhawan and Vijay was in 2016 at Chennai against England when an injured Vijay had to slide down the batting order and comeback man Parthiv Patel opened the innings with Rahul. On Thursday, the start of the two-match series against West Indies, that is certain to change with either Prithvi Shaw or Mayank Agarwal set to play their first Test. And this time it wasn’t a wrist injury or a shoulder niggle that kept Dhawan and Vijay out, they were shown the door because of their indifferent form in red-ball cricket.

The writing was on the wall, there’s no question about that. But the inevitable had a lot to do with India’s overseas performance or the lack of it. There was no touching Dhawan and Vijay if only subcontinent record was taken into consideration; both of them got hundreds in India’s last home Test match, albeit against Afghanistan.

Here is where Agarwal and Shaw come into play. They are not only prolific scorers of domestic cricket but have also proven their abilities against the moving ball in England for India A.  Very little separates the two apart from the fact that Agarwal has been around for quite some time compared to Prithvi, who made his first-class debut last season. It will, therefore, be interesting to see who partners KL Rahul in the first Test.

When @mayankcricket had his first stint in the #TeamIndia nets at Rajkot #INDvWI
That sweet sound off the bat 😎👌👌🔊 pic.twitter.com/WEhO4aG7Rw

— BCCI (@BCCI) October 2, 2018

The Indian team management have decided to keep their cards close to their chest. "Personally we don't know the combination what we are going to play. But there is no pressure, it is an opportunity for every individual to express ourselves,” said Indian vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane when asked about India’s opening pair.

Wah Cricket has learnt that the 18-year-old Mumbaikar may just pip the 27-year-old Bengaluru boy in Rajkot. That Shaw was the first preference of captain Kohli, was inevitable when he was summoned to England replacing an out of form Vijay for the last two Test matches in England. The selectors too are more inclined towards Shaw getting the first go.

“I wish him good luck and I am sure he will do well. I just want him to play as he has been doing for Mumbai and India A and I think he will be fine," Rahane said about his teammate Shaw.

"I am happy for Shaw. I have seen him since his young days, we used to practice together, he is an attacking opener and done well for India A and got the reward," he added.

Whether Shaw or Agarwal, they have only a couple of Test matches to stake a claim for the openers’ slot before the selectors set their focus on the Australia tour later this year, if they haven’t already.