India vs England: No replacement for Shubman Gill, BCCI tells team

MUMBAI: The BCCI will not be sending a replacement for the injured Shubman Gill to England and Team India will have to make do with the 23 available players for the series starting next month.
BCCI sources confirmed the development and said that “When Prithvi Shaw was not considered in the pool of 24 players who travelled, why should it be any different now? As for Devdutt Padikkal, well, he’s a great talent but doesn’t deserve to be pushed to the wall like this. His time will come”.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that the entire confusion caused in the backdrop of the email sent by the Indian team manager —asking for replacements in the squad — is for the chief national selector to answer. Chetan Sharma, who is believed to have received the letter on June 28, did not communicate with the BCCI officials on the same until the media began reporting on the said letter.
“Not that it would’ve made the Board consider a replacement. But we do admit the communication should’ve been better,” they added.

Rohit-Mayank to open
The Board expects the team management to give Abhimanyu Easwaran, the 25-year-old opening batsman from Bengal, his fair share of opportunities should an occasion arise. And as long as everything goes well, Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal will continue to be the openers in England.
Ashwin for Surrey
Meanwhile, the BCCI has arranged for Ravichandran Ashwin to play a first-class match for Surrey before the Test series. Ashwin will play a four-day game for Surrey versus Somerset starting July 11.
The Board is also finalising a similar opportunity for Tamil Nadu’s young all-rounder Washington Sundar. The BCCI is pushing for Sundar to find an opportunity at Lancashire where the cricketer can play one four-day game ahead of the Test series.
One warm-up game
The BCCI has finalised Team India’s only three-day warm-up game against a combined county XI, starting July 20. Other than this, the team will play only intra-squad matches this month to prepare for the first Test starting August 4.

Shaw wants to play T20s
While the BCCI has no intentions whatsoever of sending Shaw to England, in doing so the board is also keen on sending out a very clear message to the opening batsman.
“He really needs to pull up his socks if he fancies himself in Tests. The opportunities so far, his own commitment to the format – they’ve all not matched up to the potential he’s shown. There’s work to do,” is how selectors see Shaw at the moment.
The opener himself though is not keen on flying to England either and instead wants to focus on the white-ball matches between now and the T20 World Cup – in which he’s eyeing a slot.
“He doesn’t want to warm the bench in England,” say those tracking developments.

Siraj gears up for first Test
Mohammed Siraj missing out on the WTC final caused India a great deal of heartbreak, once realisation set in how the young fast bowler would’ve been ideal in those conditions at Southampton. Sources now confirm that such an instance won’t reoccur and Siraj will be in his Test whites when the team walks out at Trent Bridge.
“Even if the team management intends to stick with R Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja in the eleven, Siraj will probably replace Ishant (Sharma). But he’s in, and that’s certain,” say sources.