India vs West Indies: Confident Prithvi Shaw's debut Test ton shows team management missed a trick by not playing him in England

Rajkot makes for an unbelievable Test setting. Simply because that ground is in the middle of nowhere. In a way, it reminds of the Rose Bowl at Southampton, also in the middle of English countryside, albeit the scenery is a lot easier on the eyes. That’s where young Prithvi Shaw had his first brush with the Indian team. Included in the Test squad in the middle of the England tour, he was the third-choice opener picked in place of Murali Vijay. An 18-year-old replacing a 34-year-old with 59 Tests experience. It didn’t need to be said aloud — Shaw is a special talent, yes, and the selectors were only too happy to include him in their plans. Indian cricket has a weird setting at the moment though. There seems to be all kinds of miscommunications and an intense power struggle (power reign instead?) going on. In one word, it seems to be a ‘mess’. But let one only concentrate on the relevant part. [caption id=“attachment_5322261” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Prithvi Shaw slammed 134 opening the innings in his first Test for India. AFP[/caption] After India lost that series in Southampton, Prithvi Shaw needed to play the fifth and final Test at The Oval. But he didn’t. Cut to the present, and Rajkot, Shaw did make his Test debut on Thursday against the Windies. No, he didn’t cut in ahead of Mayank Agarwal, for the team management had spent time with him in England and that still holds water. Shaw was always going to play this Test and series, and was always going to go to Australia, once Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan were dropped. Ask yourself, if you have been following Shaw’s career trajectory, whether his debut century was really that surprising? This is a kid who scored 540-odd off 300-something balls in school cricket. We know of another childhood prodigy from Mumbai who achieved a similar feat and went on to become a legendary batsman. This is a kid who has debut hundreds in Ranji and Duleep Trophy, before he turned 18. This is a kid who led India to Under-19 World Cup win this January under Rahul Dravid’s tutelage. This is a kid who Ricky Ponting thought would be a perfect mid-season replacement for Gautam Gambhir at Delhi Daredevils and he didn’t disappoint. The way Shaw walked out to bat, everyone — including him — knew he belonged there. The way he batted thereafter, smacking fours off the back foot, and smashing spinners to the boundary with disdain, it wasn’t really a revelation. This kid is a sure-fire bet, it would have been surprising if he had failed, especially against a pedestrian Windies’ attack that would perhaps struggle against most Ranji batting line-ups. The last statement doesn’t mean any disrespect to the Windies. At the same time, it doesn’t belittle Shaw’s achievement either. It is only the harsh truth, painful particularly from the Windies’ point of view. The visitors are not the same force they once were and the first day was a poor image of Test cricket between grossly mismatched teams as compared to the high quality contest we witnessed in England between two equal teams. Simultaneously, at age 18, it takes something special to score a maiden Test hundred on debut. What were you and I doing when we were 18? That, however, isn’t the right question to ask. Instead, you need to ask if Dhawan would have done anything different if he had not been dropped? No is the answer here. Against a poor Windies’ attack on a good batting track, another Dhawan hundred was there for the taking, going by his modus operandi thus far. This is what he does - score a mountain of runs in limited-overs’ cricket, win his place back in the Test squad, score on sub-continental pitches and come a cropper in overseas Tests. In fact, it was surprising that the selectors put an end to this four-year cycle and left him out. Again though, you need to ask if he was even part of their plans from the fourth Test onwards. Was Dhawan played at The Oval in a last-gasp bid? Couldn’t the selectors have impressed on the team management to give Shaw a go in that fifth Test? Shaw’s hundred serves a timely reminder of what is going wrong with Indian selection at the moment. He looked confident and ready in the nets at Southampton and London. By every measurable argument, with the series lost, he should have played at The Oval against a fiery England attack - James Anderson looking for a Test record, Stuart Broad looking to book his flight for Sri Lanka, Sam Curran being Sam Curran and Moeen Ali-Adil Rashid linking up well. That would have been a proper examination of Shaw’s mettle, sterner than anything the likes of Shannon Gabriel, Keemo Paul, Sherman Lewis, Devendra Bishoo or Roston Chase bowled at him, individually or collectively. And it would have told us a lot about his prospects in Australia. Make no mistake, winning the first Test at Adelaide matters more than this first Test at Rajkot. In summation then, Thursday was just a confirmation of Shaw’s prodigious talent and hope for Indian cricket in the future. At the same time though, it was a reminder of the opportunity lost at The Oval.