Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting said that the Mumbai-born youngster doesn’t want to bat in the nets when he is going through a lean phase. Ponting hopes that Shaw has changed, and if they can get the best out of him, Shaw could be a superstar player.
There has been quite a bit of limelight on Prithvi Shaw ever since he was 14 years old. He led India to the Under-19 World Cup title in 2018 and made his Test debut a few months later. The young Mumbai-born batsman announced himself on the big stage in style as he smashed 237 runs in three innings against West Indies in his debut series.
However, post that, injury and fitness concerns and the six-month doping ban kept him out of action. He didn’t have a great 2020 season in the Indian Premier League (IPL). In his first five games, he had three scores of 40+, but in his last eight knocks, he failed to go past the 20-run mark even once. He ended the tournament with 228 runs at an average of 17.54.
The Mumbai-born batsman lost his place in the Indian Test team as well. He could muster a mere four runs across two innings in the first Test at Adelaide against Australia. His technique was found out against the Australian pace attack, and he was subsequently dropped after the first Test.
Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting pointed out an interesting fact about Shaw and his approach in the training sessions. He said that when the 21-year-old youngster is going through a rough phase with the bat, he refuses to bat in the nets and when he is going great guns, he just wants to bat, bat and bat.
But he [Prithvi Shaw] had an interesting theory on his batting last year – when he’s not scoring runs, he won’t bat, and when he is scoring runs, he wants to keep batting all the time. He had four or five games where he made under 10 and I’m telling him, ‘We have to go to the nets and work out (what’s wrong)’, and he looked me in the eye and said, ‘No, I’m not batting today’. I couldn’t really work that out,
Ricky Ponting was quoted saying to cricket.com.au.
Shaw has been in mind-boggling form in going into the 2021 season of the IPL. The 21-year-old opening batsman smashed a record 827 runs at an average of 165.40 and a strike rate of 138.29 in eight games in the Vijay Hazare Trophy (India’s premier domestic 50-over tournament). The 827 runs were the highest ever by any player in the history of the competition. He registered four hundreds and a half-century as well, and three of those knocks were more than 150.
There were quite a few calls for him to be included in the Indian ODI side for the series against England at home as well. Hence, Ponting is hopeful that Shaw has changed his theory and ways of training. He also said that if they can get the best out of him, the 21-year-old could turn into a superstar player.
He might have changed. I know he’s done a lot of work over the last few months, that theory that he had might have changed, and hopefully it has, because if we can get the best out of him, he could be a superstar player,
Ponting further added.
Shaw will be a vital player in the Delhi Capitals line-up this year, especially after regular skipper Shreyas Iyer has been ruled out of the tournament due to a shoulder injury.
