IPL 2021: “I was worried about my batting after getting dropped from the Indian Test XI in Australia” – Prithvi Shaw

The past few months have been a rollercoaster ride for young Prithvi Shaw. The Delhi Capitals (DC) batsman has now revealed that he was worried about his batting technique after getting dropped from the Indian Test side in Australia.

Touted as the next batting star of Indian cricket, Prithvi Shaw scored 0 and 4 in India’s embarrassing defeat in the day-night Adelaide Test, where they also registered their record low score of 36. After copping a lot of criticism, he was dropped for the Boxing Day Test as India went on to win the series 2-1 without him.

With his technique written off by several pundits and media houses, a worried Prithvi Shaw started working on his batting in Australia itself.

“After getting dropped from the Test side after the first Test in Australia, I started worrying about my technique on why was I getting bowled. Even if it was a minor mistake, I wanted to minimise that. I started working on it there itself,” revealed Prithvi Shaw after Delhi Capitals’ (DC) win over Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the IPL 2021 match at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

The 21-year-old batsman from Mumbai returned to India and kept working on his batting and soon found form. He believes that the small change in technique has worked well for him.

“I worked on my initial movement – getting more stable and more ready before the bowler has bowled. After returning from Australia, I worked with my coach Prashant Shetty sir and also Pravin Amre sir before going to the Vijay Hazare Trophy, and it worked quite well."

“I played my natural game in Vijay Hazare Trophy, but I made a small technical change. After that, it’s going well,” added Prithvi Shaw, who slammed a 17-ball 32 in DC’s win.

Prithvi Shaw led Mumbai to the Vijay Hazare Trophy title in March. He amassed 827 runs – the most by any batter in the tournament’s history. He also became the first-ever cricketer to register three 150+ scores in a single series/tournament.

Didn’t get a lot of T20 practice before IPL: Prithvi Shaw

Prithvi Shaw further revealed that he didn’t get enough practice for IPL 2021 but made use of the practice sessions with Ricky Ponting, Pravin Amre and his coach Prashant Shetty, which helped him be in a good space.

“After coming from Australia, I remained worried about my batting. I worked hard and rectified things and got runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. I didn’t get a lot of practice for IPL, the T20 format. But I got good practice sessions with Ricky Ponting sir, Pravin Amre sir and Prashant Shetty sir, and that made a good impact,” Prithvi Shaw told the press.

With 106 runs from three matches at 35.33, Prithvi Shaw is maintaining a strike rate of almost 177 in IPL 2021. Currently at no.2 in the points table, Delhi play Mumbai Indians (MI) next at Chennai on Tuesday.