"That has been a cause for his downfall" - Former Pakistan captain assess Prithvi Shaw's batting
Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt recently commented on the batting style of young Indian opener Prithvi Shaw. Butt mentioned that Shaw has a wide range of shots in his arsenal, and he is a treat to watch when in form.
He, however, opined that the dynamic batter at times tries to hit a lot of shots quite early in his innings, which has led to him being dismissed early. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Butt said:
"Prithiv Shaw is a very good player. He has done fairly well in domestic cricket recently. He has a lot of shots, and at times, that has been a cause for his downfall. On a few occasions, he has looked to play a lot of shots a bit too early. But when he gets going, it's spectacular."
Notably, Prithvi Shaw showed a lot of promise early in his career as he announced himself on the international stage with a spectacular 134-run knock on his Test debut against West Indies in 2018.
However, a string of inconsistent performances meant that his career fizzled out. Furthermore, the emergence of Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Ishan Kishan pushed him lower in the pecking order.
Shaw has finally been granted another chance by the national selectors after a lengthy wait. The 23-year-old has been called up to India's T20I squad for the upcoming three-match home series against New Zealand.
Prithvi Shaw hammered a delightful 379-run knock against Assam in Ranji Trophy 2023
Playing for Mumbai, Prithvi Shaw packed a punch in the team's fixture against Assam in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season earlier this month.
The swashbuckler became the ninth batter in the domestic tournament's history to cross the 350-run mark in an innings. Scoring 379 runs off 383 balls, Shaw mustered the second-highest Ranji Trophy score of all time.
Shaw now holds the record for the highest score by a Mumbai batter, as he piped Sanjay Manjrekar's feat of scoring 377 against Hyderabad. He is the second-highest run scorer for Mumbai in the ongoing season, amassing 595 runs in 10 innings at an average of 59.90.
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Meanwhile, the Hardik Pandya-led Indian side will take on New Zealand in their T20I series opener at the JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi on Friday, January 27.
India's squad for New Zealand T20Is
Hardik Pandya (Captain), Suryakumar Yadav (vice-captain), Ishan Kishan (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad (ruled out), Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Prithvi Shaw, and Mukesh Kumar.