With a base price of Rs 75 lakh in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction, Prithvi Shaw remained unsold. The 25-year-old batter who had no takers in Jeddah was once seen as the next big thing of Indian cricket. He won the Under-19 World Cup with India as captain and his performances in school cricket suggested that India have got their hands on another star batter.
In the IPL 2018 auction, Delhi Daredevils bought him for Rs 1.2 crores. A decent couple of seasons later, his off-field antics started hampering his on-field performance. He has 1892 runs from 79 matches in the IPL with an average of 23.95 and a strike-rate of 147.47.
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In addition to concerns about his inconsistent form, Shaw has faced significant criticism for his behavior and fitness from several former Indian cricketers and experts. Recently, a former India selector has also raised questions about his progress.
"Prithvi has been in Delhi Capitals. In DC itself, he had a chance to interact with Rahul Dravid, who was also his U-19 India coach, Ricky Ponting, Sourav Ganguly," a former India selector, who has watched Shaw from close quarters told PTI.
"It's an open secret in Mumbai cricket that Tendulkar has also spoken to him. Are these legends fools? Do you see any change in him? Even if there is, it is not evident," he added.
Former Delhi Capitals (DC) coach Mohammad Kaif, speaking on JioCinema, said that Shaw had only himself to blame.
"Delhi gave a lot of opportunities to Prithvi Shaw because the expectations from him were that he is a powerplay player. This player has the ability to hit 6 fours in an over. He did do it against Shivam Mavi. He had a lot of potential. He was backed a lot in the hope that if he performs well today, we will win the match. We used to sit in meetings many times in which there was a discussion on whether Prithvi Shaw should be dropped or kept in the playing eleven. It was decided at night that we will drop him, but as soon as morning came he would be in the team," Kaif was quoted as saying on JioCinema.
"Before the toss we used to say that we want this player in the playing eleven. At night we used to refuse that we don't want this player in the playing eleven, he is not scoring runs, he is a flop, but as soon as morning came he was in the team, because we thought that if he performs today then we will win the match. In the pursuit of maybe…maybe… he got many opportunities, but Shaw could not take advantage. Many players do not get opportunities, but he got them and he could not perform and now he will have to accept that his form is bad. He will have to think about his game. Teams have moved on from him. It is a matter of great shame for him that no one bought him in the auction. Now he will have to score runs consistently in domestic cricket," Kaif added.
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