Prithvi Shaw has been found wanting against the Kiwi pacers in the ongoing tour of New Zealand but skipper Virat Kohli is ready to wait and watch before any corrective analysis as he does not see a pattern in the young opener’s dismissals.
See also: Virat Kohli unperturbed by his low scores in New Zealand tour
While Shaw registered the scores of 20, 24 and 40 in three ODIs, he made 16 and 14 across the two innings of Wellington Test, which India lost by 10 wickets.
After his dismissals in the Test series opener, cricket experts pointed out a few shortcomings in Prithvi’s technique but Kohli played down the talks of glitches.
“I think we can sit down and analyse, maybe after 8 or 10 similar dismissals. I don’t think (it’s fair to the guy), who is playing away from home for the first time and is probably experiencing different kind of bowling attack at international level compared to playing at home,” Kohli had said when asked about Shaw’s dismissals at the end of the first Test.
“I don’t think at this stage, we need to sit down and discuss what’s going wrong because I don’t see anything wrong. It’s the execution of things which was not there.”
Among the current crop of Indian batsmen, Shaw certainly has the biggest back-lift and when the Black Caps pacers use the short ball tactic, his bat face tends to close by the time the delivery reaches him.
With the same ploy, Scott Kuggeleijn removed Shaw in the warm-up match last week while Trent Boult got him out in the second innings of Wellington Test.
“I think as a batsman until you are committing the same mistake about seven or eight times, you can’t really sit down and worry about things too much,” Kohli remarked. “He (Shaw) will figure out. He will find ways to score runs because he is a natural stroke-player and he scores runs. It is not that he gets small runs (when he gets them). He gets big runs and knows how to get runs.”
Clarity of mind is very important and the Indian captain believes once Shaw has that there would be no stopping him.
“It is just a matter of understanding the pace of the wicket and conditions as soon as possible. Again, when he is in a clear frame of mind, he is very, very destructive,” Kohli said, hopeful that Shaw will learn quickly.
“I think whenever we have done well overseas, the opening partnership has been with a lot of clarity and positivity even clearing the in-field, taking bowlers on so that you put them under pressure. He is that kind of a player.”
“Once he feels that he can do it, I think it will be a different ball game. The mindset can shift very quickly.”
Virat Kohli also hinted that Shaw will get another chance in Christchurch and thus Shubman Gill will have to wait for his Test debut.
“Prithvi obviously wants to perform and no doubt about it, every batsman wants to. We need to give him that time to get used to the conditions a little bit and once he starts scoring, he will feel more confident about it,” he said.
(With PTI inputs)
