West Zone team has included  Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan in their squad for the upcoming 2023 Deodhar Trophy season in Puducherry starting July 24. The two Mumbai batters were the top run-getters for the Mumbai team in the Ranji season earlier this year. Shaw who had a terrible IPL 2023, suffered a lot of criticism for his aggressive style of play.

“Personally, I feel I don’t have to change my game, but a little smarter than what I am. I can’t bat like Pujara sir bats or Pujara sir can’t bat like me,” the Mumbai opener said.

“So, what I am trying to do are those things that have brought me here till, for example, the aggressive batting, I don’t like to change that.”

Sarfaraz on the other hand has been in prolific form, knocking on the door of the Indian team. Despite scoring truckloads of runs, the Mumbai batter failed to find a spot in the Indian team for the series against West Indies. Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar spoke about the same and told India Today, “At the end of the day, if you are unfit, you are not going to score hundreds. So cricket fitness is most important. I don’t have a problem with you wanting to do the Yo-Yo test or whatever it is, but the Yo-Yo test cannot be the only criterion. You got to make sure that the man is fit for cricket as well. And if the person, whoever it is, is fit for cricket, then I don’t think it should really matter.”

Priyank Panchal has been handed over the captaincy duty and players like Shivam Dube and Tushar Deshpande have also been added. Young all-rounder Rajvardhan Hangargekar also got a place. Among other additions, Rahul Tripathi and left-arm pacer Chetan Sakariya have also been roped in the West Zone squad.