Former Australia cricketer Tom Moody feels India should have given a chance to in-form batsman Shubman Gill ahead of Prithvi Shaw in the day-night Test. Shaw again failed to leave a mark and was dismissed in a similar fashion by Pat Cummins in the second essay. The right-handed batsman was backed by the selectors for the first Test but he managed only a duck and four in the two innings of the day-night Test. Moody said Shaw shouldn't have even picked for the pink-ball game following his lean patch with the bat in the warm-up game. The former cricketer feels Indian selectors have failed as they didn't pick Gill for the first Test.
"Prithvi Shaw is not the one that has failed here, the selectors have failed. He shouldn't have gotten picked to begin with knowing that he's coming into this Test series out of form and also with the technical flaws that have been exposed over a dozen balls. So to me he was set up to fail in a way," Moody told ESPNCricinfo.
"For me, Shubman Gill should have been the person to play to begin with. His technique is a lot more watertight and he's shown that he's got a wonderful temperament," he added.
The newly appointed director of cricket of Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) said Shaw has a good future in the longest format of the game but criticised the selectors' decision of going with the 21-year-old in the first Test
"I'm not saying that Prithvi Shaw is not going to make a good Test cricketer. He's got a huge future in front of him. But at the moment it's not so much his fault. I think the decision to play him was wrong," said Moody.
India stumbled to an eight-wicket loss in the first Test of the four-match series here at Adelaide Oval on Saturday.
On the third day of the day-night Test, India was bundled out for 36 in the second innings and Australia was given a mediocre target of 90 runs to go 1-0 ahead.
Joe Burns, who was out of form, scored 51 while Matthew Wade hit 33 as the duo put on 70 for the opening wicket to extinguish any hopes India had of staging a fightback.