Former Australia captain and Punjab Kings (PBKS) head coach Ricky Ponting recently admitted that witnessing Prithvi Shaw's decline was a sad sight. The talented opening batter fetched no bids from any franchise during the recently conducted 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) Auction, despite a massive drop in his base price to INR 75 Lakhs.
Shaw was one of the retentions made by the Delhi Capitals (DC) after IPL 2021, when Ricky Ponting was the head coach. The opening batter had shown a lot of promise since his debut in 2018, and was viewed as one of the biggest prospects on the roster.
However, things went downhill in recent years. While Shaw had always been involved in controversial issues, it was always believed that he could turn things around. But, his form took a turn for the worse in the previous three-year cycle, including a horrid 2023 season, where he scored only 106 runs in eight innings at an average of 13.25. With the off-field controversies and poor fitness levels escalating, Shaw was released by DC after the 2024 campaign.
"Sad. You know, Prithvi, I still say now he is as talented a player as I probably ever worked with. He goes unsold in the auction and then doesn't even come back in the accelerator. And there are a lot of teams here that are looking at him. He's not playing. But as I said, the game catches up with you. So, yeah, I guess that. Yeah, that's about all you can say," Ponting said, via The Business Standard.
Ponting had said during the build-up to IPL 2023 that Shaw needed a blockbuster season to get back on track, but that ended up being the most dismal campaign of his career. With other opening options available in the form of David Warner, Jake Fraser-McGurk, and Abishek Porel, among others, Shaw slowly fell down the pecking order.
"If people make memes on me, I see them as well. I sometimes get hurt" - Prithvi Shaw
Shaw has been subject to some intense criticism and trolling for his poor performances and off-field demeanor. Former Australia cricketer Greg Chappell had even written a letter recently to inspire and motivate him towards a potential comeback.
“I feel like trolling is not a good thing, but it is not such a bad thing either. If people make memes on me, I see them as well. I sometimes get hurt," Shaw said on the Focused Indian YouTube channel.
The 25-year-old was part of the Mumbai squad in the first leg of the Ranji season, and is currently playing in the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament.
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