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'No need to create such insecurity': Saba Karim on India's openers dilemma
Several reports claimed that coach Ravi Shastri wanted Prithvi Shaw and Devdutt Padikkal to fly to England to be Gill's replacements.
Shubman Gill's injury has opened up a dilemma for the India cricket team regarding who should come out to open in the five-match Test series against England. While Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul are two of the options still left in the India squad, apart from youngster Abhimanyu Easwaran, there were reports that coach Ravi Shastri wanted Prithvi Shaw and Devdutt Padikkal to fly to England to be Gill's replacements.
But this thought process has led to questions being raised on why India would not include Shaw or Padikkal in the first place in their plans. This was precisely the point raised by former India wicketkeeper Saba Karim who said that a thought process like this may create insecurity among players.
"I will never feel it is justified because if you send an additional replacement the players already in the team will feel extremely insecure. There is no need to create such insecurity," Saba Karim said on India News.
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"I feel you have to show some faith in the job done by the selectors. I still cannot believe that such a demand would have come from the team management. But if it has come, I feel it is not justifiable," he added.
"If the team needs a replacement, there is a discussion with the selectors, especially with the chairperson. But which player goes is decided by the selection committee.
"But the question here is why they need a replacement when they have so many openers in the reserve. It is difficult to say from here what could be the reason behind the team management asking for a replacement.
"It is possible that they might be feeling that the situation that was created in Australia, a similar thing could happen here as well. So they want an opener to be in the team as Shubman Gill has come back and it is a long series, there are going to five Test matches played and if you need someone in between, the player will not be able to play because of quarantine," he signed off.
