Delhi Capitals (DC) assistant coach Pravin Amre recently discussed the decision to drop Prithvi Shaw from the playing XI in the last few matches of the IPL 2024 group stage.
Prithvi Shaw was retained by DC for IPL 2024 but didn’t play the first two games of the tournament. He scored a quick 43 off 27 balls in his first game of the season against CSK and then followed it up with a 66(40) against Mumbai Indians.
After that, Shaw returned scores of 32,7,16,11 and 13. He was then dropped from the playing XIs for the last few games and Abishek Porel opened in his place. Porel grabbed the opportunity with both hands and scored an impressive 327 runs in 12 innings at a strike rate of 159.51.
"He [Shaw] was our retained player, and as you see, last four [of five] games he was also on the bench. But that's the IPL. If you are not in form, you can't [keep your place]. Ultimately, the pressure for the team is so much that every game is important and we have to win," Amre said in the post-match presser.
"And we had done that. Without playing him, we won the games. And whoever got the opportunity... I think Abishek grabbed the opportunities with both hands," he added.
Shaw played a total of eight matches for DC, scoring 198 runs at an average of 24.75 and a strike rate of 163.64, including a single half-century.
On the other hand, Amre was all praises for Tristan Stubbs and labeled him as a player "for the next five years." Stubbs was bought in the IPL 2024 auction as a backup for Harry Brook, but when the Englishman pulled out of the tournament, Stubbs was allowed to showcase his talent.
In DC's final game of the season, Stubbs showed his explosive batting, hitting 57* and powering DC to 208/4.
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"If Harry Brook was there, Stubbs was a backup. It was so important that we had to pick a really good backup. We saw the South African League, and he had done really well there. He contributed to the winning team there. He got a triple hundred in first-class cricket, also. What we saw is that he is such a cricketer who can play well against spinners as well. He looks very hungry and composed, also. He is a player for the next five years," Amre said in the post-match press conference.
Amre also talked about the positives from the season and the players they were able to groom throughout the season.
"There are many positives this season; Jake (Fraser McGurk) is a player we found, Stubbs is a player we found, (Abhishek) Porel is another; Rasikh has been good in the past four games, he really contributed well," Amre said.
DC finished their IPL 2024 with 7 wins and 7 losses from 14 games and 14 points. Though they are mathematically still in the race for playoffs, DC’s poor NRR of -0.377 has virtually ruled them out of the competition.
(ANI inputs)
