"He knew what it meant to be there" - Ramesh Powar heaps praise on Prithvi Shaw
Prithvi Shaw, after struggling in Australia, was back to his best in the recently-concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy. The opener was out to prove a point after the India axe, and did exactly that with his performance in the tournament.
Shaw broke the record for the most runs scored in a single edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He scored a stunning 827 runs at an average of 165.40 and a strike rate of 138.29. He registered four centuries in the tournament, including the highest score of 227*.
Shaw, for his superlative performances, received a lot of praise from former India cricketer and current Mumbai coach Ramesh Powar.
"After three of our main players went from Jaipur to the Indian team (Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Shardul Thakur) for the T20I series against England, Prithvi Shaw took over as captain. He was very hands-on, he was very helpful to the youngsters and took up the leadership role. He knew what it meant to be there for a player because he has been through a lot of bad patches," Ramesh Powar said in an exclusive to News18.
Ramesh Powar also revealed how hard Prithvi Shaw worked to get back to his best.
"He was there, batting in the nets. And if not batting in the nets, he was making sure everyone got the attention. He did a lot of throw-downs to the youngsters. I have seen him do 90 minutes of throw-downs non-stop. I was amazed at how much energy he put in mentally and physically for this team," he added.
'Prithvi Shaw played more than half the overs' – Powar
Prithvi Shaw faced 598 balls in the recently-concluded edition of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Only Devdutt Padikkal (768) faced more deliveries than the Mumbai batsman.
Ramesh Powar seemed delighted with Prithvi Shaw's consistency, given that he faced more than half the overs for his team overall.
"That’s what it is. He played more than half the number of overs. The other guys did not get much chances, and when they got, they scored. Aditya Tare got a hundred. Suryakumar Yadav got a hundred, Shreyas got two hundreds. Whenever Prithvi failed, Shreyas, Aditya Tare, Surya stood up. Shams Mulani ensured he was there to consolidate the partnership. But, 90 per cent of the time, Prithvi was there in the middle."
Prithvi Shaw was earlier dropped from the Indian Test team after the 1st Test against Australia down under. He failed to make it to the squad for the Test series against England.