3 times bowlers had no clue how to stop Prithvi Shaw
Prithvi Shaw has absolutely lit up the England domestic scene with his county stint for Northamptonshire. Playing in the Royal London One-Day Cup, he broke records galore en route to a phenomenal 244 against Somerset on Wednesday.
Coming off only 153 balls, Shaw smashed 11 sixes and scored 28 boundaries in his innings, powering his team to an 87-run victory. His score is now the highest by an Indian in England List-A cricket as well as the highest in his own List-A career. This is a much-needed revival of form for the immensely talented batter who had a tough IPL season.
With plenty of time on his side, he'll hope that this is only the start of what is hopefully a prolonged good run with the bat. Shaw has demoralized opposition bowlers on countless occasions. On that note, let's look at three times bowlers had no clue how to stop him.
#3 134 (61) - Mumbai vs Assam, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2022
Prithvi Shaw's maiden and only T20 century to date came against Assam in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2022 (SMAT 2022). Shaw was the Mumbai captain for SMAT 2022 and he led from the front as they went all the way and won the entire tournament.
Easily his best knock was the blistering 61-ball 134 he scored against Assam in the Elite Group A clash between both sides. Put into bat by Assam, Shaw wasted no time and was quick to get off the blocks, with Mumbai 75/1 after five overs.
He built a couple of good partnerships with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sarfaraz Khan before finally being dismissed in the 18th over. However, the damage was done as he had scored nearly 65% of the team's score at that point all by himself.
Mumbai got to 230/3 in their 30 overs, bowling Assam out for 169 to comfortably win the match. This is surely the first of many T20 hundreds for Prithvi Shaw.
#2 185* (123) - Mumbai vs Saurashtra, Vijay Hazare Trophy 2020/21
Prithvi Shaw's performance in the 2020/21 Vijay Hazare season was one for the ages. He broke records galore en route to scoring a whopping 827 runs in only eight matches, averaging 165.40 and scoring at 138.29. One of his best knocks of the tournament came in the quarter-finals against a strong Saurashtra side.
Batting first, Jaydev Unadkat's side scored 284/5 in their 50 overs. In response, Shaw's knock simply took the opponents out of the equation. Shaw and opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal put on an opening stand of 238 in only 34.5 overs before the latter was dismissed.
However, Shaw batted on, finishing with an unbeaten 185 off only 123 balls, helping Mumbai reach the semi-finals, where he scored another scintillating hundred. While this wasn't his highest score of that tournament (227 vs Puducherry), this was definitely one of the best, considering the quality of the opposition.
#1 82 (41) - KKR vs DC, IPL 2021
Arguably Prithvi Shaw's most dominant knock came against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in IPL 2021. It's not the highest score he has made in the league, but it's definitely the best he has looked at making runs. Chasing a target of 155 in 20 overs at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Delhi Capitals (DC)'s Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan walked out to the middle.
Shaw took the strike and absolutely battered Shivam Mavi in the first over, scoring a boundary off all six balls. The onslaught simply never stopped as Shaw took the attack to literally every KKR bowler, including Pat Cummins, who was their best bowler on the night.
Even as Shikhar Dhawan struggled at the other end, finishing with 46 runs at less than a run a ball, Shaw looked like he was batting on another surface. He was dismissed a few runs short of the target, but Pant and Stoinis finished the game off quickly.
His whirlwind knock of 82 (41) killed the game off as soon as it started, with the bowlers having no clue whatsoever on how to stop him.