‘Shaw has bigger things in store’
It was a moment of pride for the Mumbai cricket fraternity when Indian U-19 team skipper Prithvi Shaw lifted the ICC U-19 World Cup trophy on Saturday.
“I am impressed with Prithvi. He is very mature for his age. Shubman Gill also looks very good. Prithvi, Shubman and Nagarkoti are ready for the IndiaA team,” said former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar.
Pravin Amre, head of talent hunt at Delhi Daredevils, said Shaw had already proved his batting credentials with four firstclass 100s in his first five matches.
“As a player, he had proved himself but there was a question mark over his leadership qualities. I’m happy with the way he led the team and also performed with the bat,” said Amre, who had suggested Shaw’s name to the Daredevils during IPL auction.
However, two years back, Shaw was left out of the Mumbai U-19 team. He took it as a challenge, worked on his game, and has not looked back since.
“He was not in the Mumbai U-19 team selected for the Dhruv Pandove Trophy. That, I feel, was the turning point, as he smashed three straight hundreds in the selection tournament and forced his way into the U-19 team for the rest of the season,” said Shaw’s school cricket in-charge, Raju Pathak, who has seen the player develop at the Rizvi Springfield High School, where he joined in third standard.
In the intensely competitive junior cricket scene in Mumbai, Shaw was just another promising talent till he smashed the interschool record of highest individual score with an innings of 546 against St Francis D’Assisi in 2014. “That made everyone sit up and take notice,” added Pathak.
Guru Gupte, the Mumbai junior selector when Shaw played age-group tourneys, said, “The first time I saw him at the ELF Cup U-12 event, he had wonderful class. We promoted him to the U-14 side. When he was 16, we promoted him to the U-19 side.” India scored 220/2 in 38.5 overs to win the final. This was their second-highest chase at the U-19 WC, behind the 226 they scored to beat Aus in Townsville in 2012. Prithvi Shaw Manjot Kalra Shivam Mavi 6 170 Manjot Kalra’s century (101*) was his first in U-19 WC. His previous highest was 86 in a league match against Australia at the same ground on January 14, 2018.
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These boys are far more talented and aware than we were in our younger days. I see a future star in Shubman. He has to keep a steady head.