"How many players with zero percent or minimal body fat have scored 379?" - Sunil Gavaskar comes out in support of Prithvi Shaw
Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar recently commented on Prithvi Shaw's omission from Mumbai's squad in the ongoing season of the Ranji Trophy 2024. The opening batter was reportedly dropped from the team due to fitness concerns and was asked to shed some kilos.
Gavaskar hoped that Shaw wasn't left out from the side due to his excess body fat percentage. He suggested that the fitness criteria should be if a player can bat for the whole day or bowl 20 overs.
The cricketer-turned-commentator pointed out that Shaw scored 379, the second-highest individual score in Ranji Trophy history (after BB Nimbalkar's 443 scored in the 1948-49 season), something that players with zero body fat percentage have failed to achieve.
Gavaskar also cited the example of Sarfaraz Khan to prove his point. The 75-year-old wrote in his Mid-Day column:
"Speaking of domestic matches, defending Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai have dropped Prithvi Shaw from their team that is currently in Tripura. There have been mixed reports about his omission from the Ranji team. If it's about his attitude, approach, and discipline, then it’s understandable, but hopefully, it has nothing to do with his weight, as one report seems to have suggested. That report suggested that he had 35 percent more body fat."
"We have seen in the previous Test in Bengaluru how another player Sarfaraz Khan, whose weight and shape have also been discussed in the public domain, played a scintillating innings of 150, showing that it is not the shape or the size of your waist that determines cricket fitness."
He further opined:
It's whether you can score 150-plus runs and that too bat for a whole day or bowl 20-plus overs in a day. That should be the only criteria of a player’s fitness. By the way, how many players with zero percent or minimal body fat have scored 379 like Prithvi Shaw? I rest my case about fitness," he added.
Meanwhile, the defending champions Mumbai kicked off their Ranji Trophy 2024 campaign with an 84-run defeat to Baroda. The Ajinkya Rahane-led side bounced back by claiming an nine-wicket win over Maharashtra in the subsequent fixture.
"He has been given a break" - MCA secretary on Prithvi Shaw
Mumbai Cricket Association secretary Abhay Hadap said the team management has given Prithvi Shaw a break. He mentioned that the 24-year-old has been asked to work on a few areas by the captain and the coach.
Hadap told The Hindu:
"He has been given a break. The selectors and the coach have had a discussion with him and have briefed him about areas to work on, including fitness."
Prithvi Shaw failed to get going in the first two matches of the Ranji Trophy 2024. He registered scores of 7 and 12 against Baroda. He failed to make amends in the next match against Maharashtra, finishing with scores of 1 and 39*.