Selectors ask Prithvi Shaw to shed a few kilos before thinking of national comeback
As Indian selectors announced the 20-member squad for the ICC World Test Championship 2021 final and five Tests against England, people couldn’t help but wonder why Prithvi Shaw was not selected in the team. Despite getting dropped from the Indian Test squad earlier this year, Shaw made a startling comeback in the subsequent Vijay Hazare Trophy and Indian Premier League 2021.
Now a fresh report has revealed that the 21-year-old has been given a wake-up call, stating that he is still slightly overweight. In the 20-member squad, the selectors named four openers, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, and KL Rahul. They also named Bengal opening batsman Abhimanyu Easwaran as a backup apart from the initial 20 players.
A BCCI source has revealed that the selectors want him to reduce some weight before he gets back to the Indian team. The source, who was quoted by the Times of India, also said that he has the example of Rishabh Pant to learn from. The Indian wicketkeeper, who was dropped from the Indian XI, staged a comeback with performances at the Test level after he reduced his weight significantly.
If Pant can turn things around in a few months, Prithvi too can do it: BCCI source
“Prithvi is still very slow across the turf for a 21-year-old. He needs to shed a few more kilos. He also had concentration issues while fielding in Australia. Shaw has been working hard since he returned from Australia. He has the example of Rishabh Pant right in front of him. If Pant can turn things around in a few months, Prithvi too can do it,” the BCCI source said.
The source further said that the batsman has to continue performing like this in order to get selected. “He has to sustain this form for a few more tournaments. He has often been picked on the basis of one good series and then he has struggled in international cricket, He is too good a player to be ignored for long,” the source added.
After making his debut for India, Shaw faded away a little bit with injuries, ban, and loss of form. He hit rock bottom when he was dropped from Delhi Capitals XI in IPL 2020 and from the Indian Test XI and later squad. He staged a comeback by scoring more than 800 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2021 and then lit up the IPL 2021, scoring 308 runs in eight matches. Despite this, he was not picked. But this report certainly should ignite hope for the youngster that he is on the radar and could very soon be back in an Indian shirt.
Ashish Nehra slams Indian selectors
Ashish Nehra has criticized the decision by Indian selectors of dropping Prithvi Shaw from the Test team for one bad performance. Even after performing quite well in the Indian Premier League 2021, Shaw couldn’t find his way back into the Indian Test squad which was announced for the ICC World Test Championship final and five Tests in England.
Last year, due to struggling form and issues with technique, Shaw was dropped from the Indian Test XI after scoring 0 and 4 in the first Test against Australia. After that match in Adelaide, Shaw didn’t feature in any matches in the Test series. He was dropped from the home series against England as well.
However, during his time away from the national team, Shaw managed to fix the issues which he had with his technique and came back strongly. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he had a record-breaking season with more than 800 runs. He followed that up with 308 runs in the IPL 2021, in eight matches, with an average of 38.50 and a strike rate of 166.48.
Nehra talked about the Indian team management, which dropped Shaw after just one bad match. “As far as technique is concerned, for any player, it is difficult to adjust. Even during the Adelaide Test, he wasn’t a player who had a lot of experience or played 30-40 Test matches. We were talking about a youngster. To drop him on the basis of one Test match was tough,” Nehra told Cricbuzz.
Last year’s IPL, I felt, Shaw shouldn’t have been dropped: Ashish Nehra
Last year, during the IPL, Delhi Capitals dropped Shaw after he didn’t get runs in some of the matches. This even meant that he missed out on the XI in the IPL 2020 final. Ajinkya Rahane replaced him in the XI and Nehra believes that to be a wrong decision. The former Indian pacer said that explosive players like Shaw should be back ahead of someone like Rahane.
“It’s one thing that India went on to win the series but even then, I felt that he shouldn’t have been benched after one Test match. Even during last year’s IPL, I felt he shouldn’t have been dropped. He played a few good innings but couldn’t score runs. But I will always back a player who has more runs than Rahane when you talk of T20 cricket. I’m not saying that Rahane is not a good player, but in T20 cricket you need explosive players like Shaw, Pant, Stoinis and Hetmyer,” Nehra asserted.
