"A lot of people talk about his off-field activities" - When Gautam Gambhir backed dropped Mumbai batter as a future India leader
Indian batter Prithvi Shaw has been in the news for the wrong reasons lately. He was recently dropped from the Mumbai squad for the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy. The 25-year-old failed to make much of an impact in the preceding Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and even went unsold at the IPL 2025 mega auction.
While Shaw has questioned his axe by pointing out his impressive stats, a Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) official recently opened up on the decision and criticized the batter over his fitness and discipline. Once touted as the next big thing in Indian cricket, the right-hander hasn't played an international game since July 2021. His last Test match was in 2020.
Intriguingly, back in 2022, Team India's current head coach Gautam Gambhir had backed Shaw as a future India captain. Admitting that the Mumbai batter has had his off-field issues, he opined that it's an area that can be worked up.
Speaking at an event organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) in New Delhi, he had said (as quoted by ESPNcricinfo):
"The reason I've picked Prithvi Shaw, I know a lot of people talk about his off-field activities, but that is what the job of the coach and the selectors are. The selectors' job isn't just to pick the 15, but also to get people walk the right path.
"Prithvi Shaw is one I feel can be a very aggressive captain, a very successful captain because you see that aggression in the way a person plays the sport," the former India batter had gone on to explain.
Incidentally, Shaw was the captain of the 2018 India U-19 squad that won the World Cup held in New Zealand.
Prithvi Shaw's batting stats for Team India
Shaw (25) has so far represented India in five Tests, six ODIs and one T20I. He made an exceptional Test debut, scoring 134 against the West Indies in Rajkot. He thus became the youngest Indian Test centurion on debut, and the second-youngest Test centurion for India after Sachin Tendulkar. In five Tests, he has scored 339 runs at an average of 42.37, with one hundred and two fifties.
In ODIs, he has 189 runs to his name at an average of 31.50 and a strike rate of 113.85, with a best of 49. In the only T20I he played, Shaw was dismissed for a golden duck by Dushmantha Chameera.