IND v AUS 2020: 'Can rip apart opponents' - Former India captain has words of advice for underfire Prithvi Shaw

Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin recently offered some advice to the struggling Indian opener Prithvi Shaw. Azharuddin emphasised the need for Shaw to spend more time at the crease before playing his natural game.

Azharuddin felt Prithvi Shaw has 'enormous talent', and while speaking to Sportstar, the former India batsman said -

''He has enormous talent, but his game is free-flowing, and there will be days when he can rip apart opponents. But that won’t happen every day. As an opener, the basic job is to take the shine off the new ball. Even if you don’t score too many runs, it is important that you be patient and try to stay at the crease for long.”

That way, you gain the confidence, and once you are settled, you can play your strokes. That’s how you score runs. You cannot be impatient at the highest level. I hope that somebody in the team management tells him that he needs to tighten his defence. You can’t play a similar attacking game that you played against the West Indies two years ago, because you are playing pink ball after a long time, so it is anyway challenging. So you need to focus,” Azharuddin added further.

Prithvi Shaw's woes in the first Test against Australia

Prithvi Shaw so far has had a shocker of a Test match in Adelaide against Australia, having managed scores of 0 & 4 in two innings. More than the lack of runs, the manner of his dismissals in both the innings should concern the Indian team management.

The 21-year-old also disappointed in the field as he dropped Australian batsman Marnus Labuschagne when the latter was on 12 on the second day of the Test.

ANOTHER chance for Marnus! #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/zl25xRJjIX

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 18, 2020

With Shubman Gill and KL Rahul waiting in the wings to find a spot in India's playing XI, it could be tough to justify Prithvi Shaw's selection for another Test match.