Following a poor showing in the opening pink-ball Test, Prithvi Shaw was dropped from the playing eleven for the remainder of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy back in 2020-21. A lot was said about the technical frailties in his batting and questions raised on whether he was fit to play international cricket.

Since then he has put in the hard yards and performed consistently .He was a part of the Indian team led by Shikhar Dhawan that played a limited overs series against Sri Lanka in 2021.

Shaw came up with impressive performances in those matches in the island nation. Before that Shaw finished among the top ten run-scorers of IPL 2021 with a tally of 479 runs. He got infected by typhoid midway during IPL 2022 but still managed to show glimpses of his class in the matches that he had featured in.

Shaw played a brilliant knock of 77 runs off 48 deliveries in the second unofficial One Dayer against New Zealand A played recently in Chennai. His innings was instrumental in India A sealing the 3-match series.

But the question is Can the right-handed batter who led the Under-19 Indian team to World Cup glory in 2018 make a comeback to the senior Indian team ?

Written off even before a ball was bowled in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21.

The Mumbai cricketer was the subject of severe criticism for a dismal show in IPL 2020. Shaw is a part of the Delhi Capitals franchise which finished as runner-up in IPL 2020.He failed to deliver with the bat in the cash-rich league which was at that time played entirely in UAE due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The IPL 2020 was held just before the Australian tour and his lack of form meant Shaw was written off even before a ball was bowled in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21. After Shaw failed in the pink ball Test former Aussie cricketer Tom Moody told ESPN Cricinfo the following :

“ The first point I’m gonna make is that Prithvi Shaw is not the one that has failed here, the selectors have failed. Because he shouldn’t have been picked to begin with, knowing that he is coming into this series out of form and also with technical flaws…”

Short of runs and not in the right mindset

During the New Zealand tour in the early part of 2020, Shaw managed to score only 98 runs in four innings. In the four games that were played before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, he averaged a poor 15.5.The then 21-year old batter must have been under a lot of pressure going into the first Test at Adelaide.

As things panned out Ricky Ponting predicted the dismissal of Shaw after barely two balls were bowled in the match. The Aussie speedster Mitchell Starc as if on cue got one to come back sharply. The ball went past the gap between Shaw’s bat and pads. It must have been utterly disappointing for the youngster

Weight of too many expectations

Shaw is someone who has had to shoulder the burden of high expectations as a cricketer from a very young age.When he made 546 runs in the Harris Shield at the age of 14 years, a record in any form of the game till 2016, he was hailed as the next big thing in cricket. Shaw scored centuries in his debut matches in the Ranji Trophy as well as in the Duleep Trophy.

Tendulkar is the only other player to have achieved the feat. People started drawing comparisons between Shaw and Tendulkar after that. Shaw also scored a century against Australia when he played his first Test for the Indian team in Mohali. For someone who has seen so much success, it must be hard to cope with setbacks especially at the start of an international career.

People tend to always have high expectations from this talented batter. The problem with Shaw was that his batting technique came under the scanner which made him a vulnerable candidate against quality bowling attacks. Particularly in tough conditions abroad.

Vulnerable candidate against quality bowling attacks

“ With Prithvi I feel it’s the back lift. I feel his hands are moving away from his body, and then coming in. So it’s a scoop, rather than a pendulum or a cradle, which goes in a straight line… it’s coming down straight but if the ball zips through the surface, that is when problems get created ” , Tendulkar had said on his YouTube channel.

The little master added that any batter who is not in the best of form and has such a backlift is bound to face problems in timing the ball right and will end up edging the ball.“ When you are batting well, your timing is going to be right. But when you are not, the straighter back lift helps”, he added.

It's all in the mind

Tendulkar who has hit the highest number of centuries in international cricket also highlighted that Shaw’s footwork was also found wanting. Particularly in the way, he got out in the second innings of the pink-ball Test against Australia.

He however added that the real issue lies in the mind of the batter. In hindsight, it will be only fair to say that Shaw is not the only batsman to have faced a tough time in foreign conditions.

Even the former Indian skipper Virat Kohli struggled in English conditions when Team India toured in 2014. But Kohli made a strong comeback the next time when the Indian team played in England.He made adjustments in his game which were both mental and technical, something which makes Kohli one of the modern-day greats.

A lot has changed since the Adelaide Test

A lot has happened in Indian cricket since the Adelaide Test that saw the vaunted Indian batting lineup get all out for a record low score of 36.Of course, the way the team led by Ajinkya Rahane made a comeback to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is part of cricket folklore now. A new era has begun for Indian cricket under coach Rahul Dravid.

Rohit Sharma has taken over the reins from Kohli and youngsters like Surya Kumar Yadav have impressed while wearing the Team India jersey particularly in limited overs cricket. Shaw too was impressive as an opener in the ODIs against Sri Lanka. However, he missed out on the last two T20Is as he was a close contact of the Indian players who tested Covid-19 positive during the series.

Later, Shaw along with Surya Kumar Yadav joined the Indian squad in England. Shaw eventually did not feature in the playing eleven in any of the four Tests versus England.But his inclusion in the squad at that time suggested that the Mumbai cricketer was very much in the scheme of things as far as Indian selectors were concerned.

Fell down the pecking order

However things changed and Shaw fell down in the pecking order when it came to finding a spot in the national team. The selectors ignored him for tours to Zimbabwe and Ireland. Meanwhile the Mumbai born cricketer continued to persevere and channelised his whole focus on scoring runs.

Recently Shaw slammed back-to-back centuries in the Duleep trophy and made sure the selectors could no longer overlook him for the India A versus New Zealand A One Dayers. He was not a part of the India A side that played two rain interrupted Tests against the visiting New Zealand A side a few days ago.

The 50-over World Cup 2023 is going to be played in India. The good thing for Shaw is that he is still only 23 years old. The Mumbai batter must not lose heart and make the most out of the opportunities that come his way.

At the moment Shaw does not appear to be an automatic selection for the Indian team in any format. But many believe he is too talented a player to be ignored for long. However, Shaw must convince the Team India think tank that he has exorcised the demons of the Australian tour of 2020-21.