Prithvi Shaw

The right-handed pocket-sized dynamo Prithvi Shaw is touted as the future of Indian cricket for a very long time now. 

A child prodigy, Shaw created a huge buzz, when the dashing opener slammed an unprecedented 546 runs in Mumbai’s Harris Shield match in 2014 at the age of 14. It was the highest individual score in any competitive cricket at that time.

Since then, Shaw has been fast tracked and has been closely monitored by the selectors. Following his heroics in the Harris Shield match, Shaw went on to score centuries on his Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy debuts, and became only the second cricketer, after Sachin Tendulkar to achieve this monumental feat.

Shaw was named captain of the Under-19 World Cup squad in 2019, a tournament that India went onto win and Shaw himself amassed 261 runs at an average of 65.

Shaw along with other players received plaudits for their aggressive brand of cricket on display in the tournament and reward was offered soon enough for Shaw in the form of an IPL auction money of INR 1.2 crore.

He had a decent run of form in his first two seasons, as he accumulated 245 runs from 9 innings in 2018 and 353 runs from 16 innings in the 2019 season. Last season (2020) however, Shaw struggled for timing and had a poor outing with the bat, amassing 228 runs at an average of 17.53.

Following the IPL in 2018, Shaw was called up in the Indian Test squad for the final two matches of the series, however, he did not get a game under his belt. 

He finally made his much awaited Test debut in the home series against West Indies, and went onto score his maiden Test ton, and in the process became the youngest Test centurion for India on debut.

The dashing opener was selected in the Test squad down under. However, Shaw injured his left ankle while fielding in a warm-up match, and was eventually ruled out of the four-match Test series.

In August 2019, Shaw was handed an eight-month ban by the BCCI for a doping violation. He ingested a drug substance that was commonly found in cough syrups. As a result, he had to miss the home series against Bangladesh and South Africa.

In 2020, Shaw was selected in the Test squad for the Australian series. His technical flaws were clearly visible in the first Test match and as a result of  poor performance in the match, he was dropped from the remainder of the series.

Shaw was at his devastating best in the 2021 Vijay Hazare Trophy, as he became the first player to cross  the 800-run mark with three centuries and a double century to his name. 

He clearly has technical difficulties against the moving ball. However, with proper guidance, Shaw should be able to redeem himself and will clearly look to break into the Indian setup this year. He has all the tools to make the world bow down to his cricketing abilities.

(As of Mar 2021)