Young Indian opener Prithvi Shaw is among the hottest topics among the cricket fraternity thanks to woeful form with the bat and now it's the turn of his Delhi Capitals’ assistant coach Mohammad Kaif.
Presently, the preciously talented batsman is going through a horror run and another poor outing against Australia has raised questions on his technique, especially his footwork, and his fitness.
Shaw’s terrible form with the bat has continued since the New Zealand tour, where the right-hander has scored a total of just 98 runs in his 4 innings at the start of 2020 and it continued even in Australia, scoring just 62 in 4 innings at an average of just 15.5 in the tour games.
Despite his poor form, the 21-year-old batsman was given another chance in the first Day-Night Test against Australia, but he has yet again failed, scoring 0 and 4 in both innings in Adelaide.
He also came under the scanner with many criticizing the youngster for his faulty technique and his fitness levels. He was also criticized for his fielding having dropped a straight-forward chance of Marnus Labuschagne.
Amid all this, Kaif, who observed Shaw from close quarters during IPL 2020, has revealed that he had asked the youngster to work on his fitness during a one-on-one conversation.
He further said Shaw’s failure on Australian soil wasn’t out of expectations since the young opener has never played such high-quality fast bowling, and especially with the pink ball in such difficult Australian conditions in Test cricket.
The former batsman also said someone who is mentally strong can easily come out of such a horrible phase apart from by working on his technique and Pant is the one who must be physically and mentally strong to play at the level and maintain his place in the team.
Kaif said on Sony Sports Network: “Your technique definitely helps you to play the good balls. You don’t get to play the moving balls in India which Prithvi Shaw is facing from Starc or Cummins. They are the world’s best bowlers who bowl at a speed of 145 kph. This was the first time Shaw has played a pink-ball Test match and it is on Australian soil. So, that difficulty was bound to come.”
He further explained, “Coming to fitness, when the IPL final happened I had taken him aside. I am such a coach who does not disturb the player much; we also get evolved along with the player’s planning and thinking. When you are scoring runs, you can spend less time at the net, take breaks, and do your recovery. But when a player is out of form, he is not scoring runs, then whether he is Sachin or Dravid, we all spend extra time in the nets and make the nets difficult.
You play against the new ball, call the bowlers to bowl to you at the nets. I told Prithvi Shaw that when you pay attention to your fitness, take extra catches, do the extra batting, running and do training in the gym, you also train your mind. I will give my own example of the NatWest Trophy. I was not that strong technically but I had the mental strength and belief that I will fight and play out the spell. So there is a connection with training.”
Kaif signed off by saying, “Virat Kohli is the biggest example of that. You train your mind with the fitness work you do. When you are in a difficult phase, when you are out of form, apart from technique if you are mentally strong it helps you to come out of that phase.”
