There is unanimity in Mumbai’s maidaans that Prithvi Shaw can still resurrect his game at 25.
But the despondency over his perceived current lifestyle, the visibly poor standards of fitness and serious questions over his drive and motivation, make the much-desired comeback seem very distant. But concern for the young batsman, once anointed as Mumbai’s next big name, overrides everything else.
“I still feel he can make a comeback,” prefaces Sanjay Potnis, a MLA from Kalina, who was the first person in Mumbai to lend the Shaws a helping hand by providing them with a small flat in Santacruz to cut down his travel time from Virar. Potnis blames fame and money for landing Prithvi in unhelpful company. “His game is not bad, the people around him are of different kinds. No one is taking care of his sport, sab uska faayda he utha rahe hai. No one is with him at the moment, he is dependent on himself. After he left (Santacruz to Juhu to Bandra), there was no one who took care of him. Those around him are taking advantage of him, yahan wahan ghoomaate hain bus,” Potnis alleges.
It’s been a miserable autumn as he went unpicked in the IPL mega auction, and his attitude keeps getting questioned. Social media continues to give grief. The day he was dropped from the Mumbai Ranji side, a video clip surfaced of him dancing at his birthday party. He has often wondered aloud to his close friends why he gets perennially judged, while others are never questioned for the same things.
To understand Shaw one has to go back to his past. Shaw was raised by his father in Virar, where he attempted to make a success of retail clothing business. “They were not well off. His father was trying some business but it was not working out. They had seen hard times and growing up Shaw had to depend on help from others. It wasn’t easy. And he didn’t have a mother (she passed away early) who could guide him the way only a mother can,” recalls Raju Pathak, who was coach of Rizvi Springfield School during Shaw’s schooling days.
Yet, in 2021, Shaw seemed on track. He is known to have a smart cricket brain. Back in Ranji Trophy or IPL, Shaw was known to sit for hours with the video analyst dissecting his opponents. He saw himself as a leader and requested a selector in 2021 to be made Mumbai captain for Vijay Hazare Trophy. Unsure initially, the Mumbai selectors agreed as they felt such players excel when they demand responsibility. Mumbai won the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2021 and Shaw scored 827 runs which had four hundreds and one fifty in eight matches.
It’s what franchises might have hoped for when they called him before the auction stating that he is on their wishlist. But no paddles went up when his name came up.
Former England captain Kevin Pietersen has a piece of advice for the opener. “Some of the greatest sports stories are COMEBACK stories. If Prithvi Shaw has decent people around him who care about his long term success, they’d sit him down, tell him to get off social media & train his absolute backside off in getting super fit. It’ll get him back into the correct path where past success can return. Too talented to throw it all away,” he posted on his social media handle ‘X’.
But social media also regurgitates clips of him involved in a pub fight or him celebrating his birthday. Pathak says the world wants Shaw to behave like a mature 40 year old man. “He has been successful so early. The boy who once saw daily struggle and shortage of money at home suddenly has a decent bank balance. So when money keeps coming in, he will enjoy it and this happens with all players who are deprived of things. They want to live their life after all this is what they wanted. Fame, money. There have been players in the past who have crossed similar paths. Problem is we want a 25-year-old Shaw to behave like a 40-year-old mature man,” Pathak argues.
Former cricketers believe that Shaw will have to find answers himself. The fight, they say, is not between the world and Shaw but Shaw vs Shaw himself.
Delhi Capitals and former Mumbai Ranji Trophy coach Pravin Amre says if Shaw takes care of his fitness things can change
“What we want, to be honest, is that he loses 10 kgs and becomes match fit. What is stopping him is his fitness. Nobody has a doubt about his cricketing skill. He is God-gifted but the problem is, he is his own enemy. Now, I don’t think anybody can motivate him. Everybody tried and I think he has to motivate himself now. Nobody else can help him. If you are going through a tough time, go and hit the nets. He has to hit the gym and the nets both,” Amre says.
He advised Shaw to hire a personal trainer. Amre says many cricketers in the past drifted away and went through such a phase. “But in his case that time has been long and that is what we are worried about. He should not go in a reverse direction now from here. He is now an adult, to be honest, he has to help himself right now. He has good hand-eye coordination. But for that timing, he needs to have proper footwork. And because of that body weight, he is late on the ball. He is not able to transfer the weight, his feet are not moving. He is not in the right position. And that is why we want him to work on his fitness,” Amre points out.
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