Suryakumar Yadav, Prithvi Shaw to fly to England as replacements for Test series

New Delhi, July 24

Suryakumar Yadav has received his maiden Test team call-up and he, along with opener Prithvi Shaw, will be flying to England as replacements sought by the team management after three players were ruled out due to injury.

Shubman Gill, Washington Sundar and Avesh Khan have been forced out from the ongoing tour. The Test series is due to start on August 4.

While Shubman was ruled out due to shin splints suffered during the World Test Championship final against New Zealand, Avesh dislocated a thumb during the warm-up game against County XI. Washington aggravated his finger injury.

Off-spinner Jayant Yadav was also supposed to go to the UK as Washington’s replacement but it has been learnt that as of now only Suryakumar and Prithvi are being sent.

A senior BCCI office-bearer confirmed the development.

“Yes, Prithvi and Surya are flying to the UK from Sri Lanka. Jayant was also supposed to go but there has been some change in plans due to quarantine requirements. Jayant is now not going. Both players will have a bubble-to-bubble transfer from Colombo to London. Whether they will fly in the middle of the T20 Internationals (Shaw and Suryakumar are part of team in Sri Lanka) or post that is being worked out,” the senior official told PTI.

“But yes, they are our replacement players for the Test series in England. They might just leave after the three T20 Internationals but we will get confirmation in another three days.” 

It is understood that Shaw’s form has impressed the team management and Mayank Agarwal’s current rhythm isn’t the greatest.

However, with quarantine rules in place, it is not clear if Suryakumar and Shaw can make it in time for the first Test after completing their hard quarantine.

As far as Jayant is concerned, he was considered for his superior batting abilities as he has a Test hundred. He was also looked upon as a steady net bowler unless Ravichandran Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja suffer from any injury in the long series. But the plan has been shelved for now.

Suryakumar’s assertive batting could be used during some point in the series as Ajinkya Rahane’s hamstring injury will keep the team concerned.

“In any case, if Ajinkya misses the first Test, it will be KL Rahul who will bat in the middle-order in Nottingham. The team management is still confident that Ajinkya might be all right before the Nottingham Test.”

However no pacer is being sent right now as already there are seven speedsters in the UK for match and net sessions. PTI