Prithvi Shaw may have struck a timely century in the Ranji Trophy to storm back into form ahead of IPL 2024, but Sunil Gavaskar is not convinced that the youngster has done enough to have a cracking season ahead, most prominently, the IPL 2024. Fitness and form have kept Shaw away from the limelight as after scoring 244 and an unbeaten 125 for Northamptonshire against Durham at last year’s County championship in August, a knee injury sidelined him for a lengthy period of time.
After a six-month injury layoff, Shaw returned to competitive cricket, representing Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy, where he scored 35 against Bengal and followed it with a cracking hundred against Chhattisgarh. Representing the Delhi Capitals, Shaw will be raring to go as the franchise chases its maiden IPL title. However, if Gavaskar is to be believed, Shaw will be held back by a technical flaw in his batting, likely to ensure the bowlers get the wood over him.
“Time for him to step up but what has happened is that a lot of teams have found that because of his predominant movement onto the front foot and that high backlift, they go the short way with him. So unless he starts to learn to play off the back foot, he is going to struggle. If the pitches are such where the ball doesn’t come up, then it will be fantastic for him,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.
Six years since Shaw played his first Test for India and lit it up with a century on debut, his career has swung the entire arc. In and out of the team, Shaw last made an appearance for India in July of 2021 during their limited-overs tour of India. The closest he has come to playing for India since was back in January of last year, when Shaw was picked in India’s squad for the New Zealand T20Is but never got a game.
