Who is Prithvi Pankaj Shaw? Is he the boy who used to travel an hour and 45 minutes from Virar to Bandra for cricket coaching? Or the 13-year-old who lasted 367 minutes and composed a record-breaking 546 in the Harris Shield on November 20, 2013?
Close to eleven years have gone by since Shaw broke that record. For a moment, if you want to measure his performances in the higher echelons of cricket – internationals and the IPL – he has faced more failures than success. So much so that he is not a part of any of the four squads that will participate in the upcoming Duleep Trophy. The one-time prodigy is now deemed not good enough to be among the top 50 male cricketers in India.
Six years ago, when Shaw cracked a ton on Test debut, it didn’t seem that way. By then, he had also led India Under-19 to a World Cup triumph and aggregated 261 runs at an average of just over 65 in that tournament. In the IPL 2018, too, he showcased some promise by accumulating his runs at a strike-rate of over 150.
It was during the subsequent New Zealand tour that whispers started to emerge about Shaw’s technical flaws. His back foot wasn’t exactly loading up, and his front foot wasn’t getting to the pitch of the ball.
This weakness was noticeable even during the Under-19 World Cup. Some detractors pointed to his back-lift, and a few others weren’t convinced about his game versus the short ball. Shaw, however, still accrued a fifty in rather tricky conditions in the Christchurch Test.
Those whispers turned into a hailstorm of criticism after he had his share of troubles against the incoming ball in the IPL 2020 and in the first Test of the India versus Australia series in Adelaide. Since that Adelaide Test, Shaw hasn’t played for India in the longest format. He did partake in a limited-overs series in Sri Lanka the following year (2021) but that was akin to an India A side as the main squad was touring England at that time.
Granted that Shaw has a few flaws in his game, but so does someone like Travis Head. And Shubman Gill, the man who replaced him during the tour of Australia in 2020-21, also has similar problems. It also has to be observed that Shaw played in the D/N Test, with the track having a fair amount of grass cover. The rest of the three Tests of that series were played in relatively better conditions for batting.
Unfortunately, there is more to Shaw’s woes, than just technical flaws. He has been involved in disputes and cases of public violence. Enough question marks have been raised over his fitness and he has also suffered a knee injury. Last year, Shaw had also talked about his mental health struggles. Ricky Ponting, his former coach at Delhi Capitals, even went on to say that he regretted not being able to help Shaw improve his game.
Shaw is still just 25 and he could yet make a roaring comeback. Having said all that, one can’t help but wonder whether Shaw has lost his way in the wilderness. The glory days of Shaw sending the bowlers on a leather hunt in minor cricket feel as though they happened in an imaginary land.