'You're Insulting Young Cricketers': Kapil Dev On Including Prithvi Shaw As Third Opener

Kapil Dev thinks that including Shaw as an opener in the team when the team already has Rahul and Agarwal calls for an "unnecessary controversy". 

(File Photo/ Getty Images)

New Delhi: After Shubman Gill's stress fracture on the left shin, there have been many reports emerging about the need for a third opening batsman. A report in TOI has suggested that the team management (read Kohli and Shastri) want Prithvi Shaw as the third option. India's World Cup-winning captain, Kapil Dev has taken a different view on the situation and said that "It will be insulting" for players who are already waiting for the opening spot in the Test team. 

India is set to play a 5-match Test series in England from August 4 and is looking for opening batting options after Gill got injured.

Kapil Dev thinks that including Shaw as an opener in the team when the team already has Rahul and Agarwal calls for an "unnecessary controversy". 

"We should respect the selectors. I am sure, the team would have been selected with their (Shastri ad Kohli) consultation. We have such brilliant openers, I don't think it is right to look for a third option when we already have Mayank and KL Rahul," Kapil Dev said on Wah Cricket, ABP News. 

"I think the team that has been picked has reserved openers and even after that we look for other options, then you are insulting our young cricketers," he added. 

Kapil Dev stressed on the importance of selectors, he said, "I think that the captain and the management must have a say in what the team should be, but if you over-rule the selectors' decision, then that is also not right in my opinion. There should not be unnecessary controversies."