Duleep Trophy 2023: Prithvi Shaw and Suryakumar Yadav fail to impress on Day 1 of ongoing semifinal against Central Zone

Prithvi Shaw and Suryakumar Yadav, the star duo from Mumbai, has failed in the first innings of the ongoing Duleep Trophy first semifinal for West Zone (WZ). Shaw was dismissed for 26 runs (54 balls), while Suryakumar got out after scoring just seven against Central Zone on Day 1 of the clash. 

Earlier in the day, the West Zone skipper, Priyank Panchal won the toss and elected to bat first against the Shivam Mavi-led side. However, the West Zone side is considered the favourite with the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara, Shaw, Yadav and Sarfaraz Khan in the squad, it certainly has not been the case thus far. 

This game will be important for Sarfaraz and Shaw as their names were missing from the upcoming India tour of the West Indies, which consists of two Tests, three ODIs and five T20Is despite not many impressive performances in the 50-over format, Surya's name has still been included in the ODI team for the Caribbean tour.

Surya's selection in the Caribbean tour can arguably be because of his Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 performance, where in 16 games he scored 605 runs including a hundred for Mumbai Indians. While Shaw didn't have a great outing in the IPL 2023. In the eight games he played for Delhi Capitals (DC), he scored 106 runs with only one fifty, Sarfaraz also got fewer opportunities while playing for DC in IPL 16, he played only four games and scored 53 runs. 

Sarfaraz has scored runs in Ranji Trophy, despite his failure in the cash-rich league, but with 3,505 runs in 37 first-class matches over three seasons at an average of 79.65 for Mumbai, the 25-year-old hasn’t got the ticket to team India yet.

Shaw and Surya wrestle to prove a point

In the current context, Surya and Shaw's failures in the first innings are not good signs for the Priyank Panchal-led side or for Team India, as the T20I team for the West Indies tour is still to be selected, and they are the future of the star-studded Indian batting.