Young opener Prithvi Shaw on Sunday (April 18) confessed that he had started “worrying” about his technique after being dropped from the playing XI in Australia. As a result, Shaw made a few technical changes in his game and returned to form in domestic cricket.
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Shaw travelled to Australia with the Indian team but lost his place after the first Test in Adelaide, owing to low scores of 0 and 4. His technique was found out against the in-swinging deliveries and he was eventually dropped from the squad for the four-Test series against England at home.
But the 21-year-old didn’t let the setback affect him as he piled up a staggering 827 runs in 8 innings while playing the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Mumbai.
Shaw is carrying on the same form in the ongoing IPL as well, registering scores of 72 (38 balls), 2 and 32 (17 balls) for the Delhi Capitals (DC).
“After getting dropped from the Test side after the first Test in Australia, I started worrying about my technique on why I was getting bowled. Even if it was a minor mistake, I wanted to minimize that. I started working on it there itself. I worked on my initial movement — getting more stable and more ready before the bowler has bowled,” said Shaw after Delhi Capitals’ 6-wicket win over Punjab Kings.
“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.
“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,” he added.
Shaw also revealed that DC head coach Ricky Ponting has given him the license to play his natural game.
“He (Ponting) just says go there and play freely without thinking a lot of things. Partnerships are quite important in the first six overs.
“We (him and Shikhar Dhawan) do plan about all this (having targets and looking at the scoreboard) before we go to bat.
“The first six overs are crucial in this kind of wicket which is not easy to bat on in the powerplay.”
Coming to the match, Delhi chased down Punjab’s 195/4 with 10 balls to spare. Shaw’s opening partner Shikhar Dhawan starred with the bat, slamming 92 off 49 deliveries with 13 fours and 2 sixes.
Delhi Capitals will take on Mumbai Indians (MI) in their next match at Chepauk on Tuesday (April 20).
(With PTI inputs)
