Prithvi Shaw needs some solidarity in his technique, opines cricket experts

Shaw scored 134 runs in his debut innings in Test matches.

Prithvi Shaw won the Man of the Match award for his 134 in his debut Test | AFPPrithvi Shaw’s dream run in Indian cricket continued with an exclamatory performance in his debut Test, as he plundered a 99-ball century and a final total of 134 runs. He was also named the Man of the Match in his debut Test.

Shaw, who became a wunderkind with his debut centuries in Ranji and Duleep Trophy, apart from winning the U19 World Cup in January of 2018, was slotted in for Shikhar Dhawan in the Indian team for the first Test against West Indies. Showing little nerves, Shaw went on the offensive against the inexperience Windies attack and brought up the third fastest debut century in Test cricket.

However, cricket experts and former players opine that Shaw will need to tighten up his technique to achieve further success. Here is what some of the former players had to say about Shaw.

"He seems to be a great talent but tends to play away from the body. Clearly, he likes to be on the back foot and play square off the wicket. It worked here (in Rajkot) but with so much gap between the bat and body, he could face issues in England and Australia," former Windies captain and a veteran of 102 Tests, Carl Hooper told PTI.  

"What we have just seen is perhaps a trailer of the things to come. It looks very promising. You cannot grudge about the opposition and pitch was flat. But he will be tested (overseas) and I am sure he is aware of it. We will get to know whether he can weather the storm and what all he needs to do," said former India opener Aakash Chopra, who played 10 Tests for India.

"Currently, there are couple of things, I am pretty sure he is working on that. One was his trigger movement which is already looking different to we saw in the IPL. I am not too worried. He has got a great start. People will have faith and he will get a slightly extended run. God forbid even if Australia does not end up being the best of tours for him, you have to bear in mind that lot of players went there the first time and did not really set the world on fire," Chopra added.

"You may want to tighten up a bit but radical changes in your techniques are not advisable. He has got to be a little careful off the back foot. The punches that he likes to hit could be slightly risky if the ball is moving laterally. We will have to assume that he will learn with time. What he has done in the past counts for nothing. He will be eventually be judged by what he does at the highest level," added Chopra.

Amol Muzumdar, a stalwart of Mumbai and owner of more than 11,000 first-class runs, said, "I think he does not need to change too much. Every player has got his own style of play. His style is aggressive, playing on the rise and he should continue doing that. We will have to wait and see how does in England and Australia then only we can talk about it."

"You cannot be technically correct all the time, too much reliance on technique is also not good. There has to be a balance between technique and flamboyance. All he needs to do is to be selective with his shot making. On which ball to go for your strokes and on which ball to hold back. That is the only thing he needs to watch out," reckoned Muzumdar.

(Inputs: PTI)

 
 

By Jatin Sharma - 07 Oct, 2018

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