Former Sri Lanka cricketer and legendary spinner Muttiah Muralitharan had nothing but praise for Indian opener Prithvi Shaw ahead of the upcoming white-ball series between the two Asian giants. Muralitharan, who is looking forward to the clash of titans at Colombo, lauded Indian opener Shaw in the build-up to India’s next white-ball assignment. Team India will kickstart their tour of Sri Lanka with the upcoming One Day International (ODI) series against the Islanders.
Regarded as the greatest spinner in two of the purest formats, Muralitharan praised Shaw and said the youngster reminds him of legendary opener Virender Sehwag. Former Indian skipper Sehwag used to be a walking nightmare for premiere bowlers during his iconic career and the legendary opener had a knack for scoring runs by playing quick-fire knocks across all formats. Speaking ahead of the ODI series between India and Sri Lanka, Muralitharan opined that Shaw is an ideal partner for Dhawan.
The Indian openers have formed a destructive opening pair at Delhi Capitals (DC) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the batting duo is expected to deliver the goods in the Sri Lanka series. “As for Prithvi Shaw, he is a better one-day and T20 player than a Test player because the way he plays, it reminds me of someone like Sehwag,” Muralitharan told ESPNCricinfo.
After series of disappointing outings with the willow for India in the international arena, Shaw had to raise his stocks in domestic cricket to earn a well-deserving call-up to the national side. “He takes a lot of risk and he puts the bowling side under pressure. If he scores, India will have a good chance of winning because he can score a huge total within a short frame of time. He’s got the talent and he is fearless. He has no fear of getting out,” Muralitharan added.
Shaw had a fruitful IPL 2021 with Delhi Capitals and the India opener is expected to team up with Dhawan to open the Indian innings against Sri Lanka. Team India will play three ODIs and three T20Is in Sri Lanka. India’s tour will get underway with the three-match ODI series from Sunday
