Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal made their debut for India in the first ODI at Seddon Park in Hamilton as hosts New Zealand won the toss and opted to bowl first. Mayank and Prithvi came out to open the batting for India as Virat Kohli decided to stick with KL Rahul in the middle order. Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw joined an elite list as soon as they walked to bat in the first ODI against New Zealand.
Shaw and Agarwal became only the fourth opening pair for India to have made their debut in the same ODI. The last instance when two debutants opened the batting for India was when KL Rahul and Karun Nair batted against Zimbabwe in 2016.
4th Instances where two debutantes opening the innings for IND in ODIs.
Sunil Gavaskar and Sudhir Naik vs ENG in 1974
Parthasarathy Sharma and Dilip Vengsarkar vs NZ in 1976
KL Rahul and Karun Nair vs ZIM in 2016
P Shaw and M Agarwal vs NZ in 2020
Shaw and Agarwal gave India a brisk start and brought up the fifty inside 8 overs, becoming the first Indian opening pair to put up a fifty-run stand on ODI debut.
But they were dismissed in quick succession soon after. Prithvi Shaw knicked one off Colin de Grandhomme in the last delivery of the 8th over for 20. He was soon followed by Mayank Agarwal, who smashed a short delivery straight to the fielder. Agarwal scored 32 off 31 balls.
Both Agarwal and Shaw have been called-up as replacements. Prithvi Shaw was named in the squad after Shikhar Dhawan was declared unfit and Agarwal came in as Rohit’s cover after the latter injured his calf muscle during the 5th T20I.
