Prithvi Shaw – Prodigy in the Fast Lane
For a generation, even before the Master Blaster had retired, India had been searching for the next teenage prodigy, the next Sachin Tendulkar. The closest they had come to finding one was Prithvi Shaw, who marked his Test debut at 18 with a stunning 99-ball hundred. Tendulkar’s greatest gift, though, was his temperament. Even as expectations soared, Sachin managed to stay calm and grounded enough to meet them. Still only 22, Shaw’s next challenge is to do that.
He certainly had a harder road to the top. Raised by his father after his mother passed away when he was only 4, the sight of the two riding a bike more than 70km a day soon became the stuff of legend in Mumbai schools’ cricket. By the time he was 13, Shaw featured in a documentary on cricket’s central place in Indian life, and he had just turned 14 when he beat Tendulkar’s best Harris Shield score by more than 200 runs.
Before his India debut, Shaw had already made a stir with the Delhi team in the Indian T20 League, scoring 2 half centuries from nine games in the 2018 season after they had paid ₹1.2 crore to get him. But after that memorable year, which also featured an Under-19 World Cup win, things haven’t been as easy for him.
He lost his place in the Test side in 2020 and has struggled to establish himself in India’s limited-overs teams. His inconsistency in the Indian T20 League hasn’t helped, though his performances in 2021, when he topped 400 runs for the first time for Team Delhi, were a timely reminder to the selectors.
Shubman Gill, who outscored him at the Under-19 World Cup, has jumped ahead of him in the Indian reckoning, and it’s now up to Shaw to catch up and show that the heavy weight of expectations he has had to carry since he was a teenager hasn’t taken the edge off his free-stroking style. Shaw was one of the four players that the Delhi team retained ahead of the mega auction this year and a maiden Indian T20 League title for the Delhi team would be an ideal way to repay the faith the franchise has shown in him. Shaw couldn’t make it to India’s squad for the 2021 T20 World Cup, we hope he gets enough chances to showcase his skills at big events in the future.
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Prithvi Shaw’s Personal Details
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- Name
- :
- Prithvi Pankaj Shaw
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- Date of Birth
- :
- 9th November 1999
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- Birthplace
- :
- Thane, India
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- Height
- :
- 5′6″
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- Batting Style
- :
- Right-handed batter
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- Playing Role
- :
- Top-order batter
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- Major Teams Played For
- :
- India, Delhi team
Prithvi Shaw’s Current Rankings
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T20 --
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ODI 156
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Test 112
Prithvi Shaw’s Career Summary
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- Format
- M
- Inn
- Runs
- HS
- Avg
- SR
- 100
- 200
- 50
- 4s
- 6s
- CT
-
- Test
- 5
- 9
- 339
- 134 vs WI
- 42.37
- 86.04
- 1
- 0
- 2
- 48
- 2
- 2
-
- ODI
- 6
- 6
- 189
- 49 vs SL
- 31.50
- 113.85
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 32
- 0
- 0
-
- T20I
- 1
- 1
- 0
- 0 vs SL
- ---
- ---
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 1
Prithvi Shaw – Key Skills and strengths
Very few have made a debut Test hundred off 99 balls -- Shikhar Dhawan (85 balls) and Dwayne Smith (93) have been faster -- and it’s a measure of how highly Shaw was rated that not too many were shocked by the ease with which he slotted into international cricket. Mumbai’s school cricket system teaches some harsh lessons, and Shaw emerged with a sound technique and an array of attacking shots. His problem since that thrilling Test debut has been in selecting the right shots to play at the right time. After a punishing batter against spinners, he now has to show that he can take on the quicks in conditions that are favorable to them.
Prithvi Shaw’s Awards and Achievements
Four days after Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement, Shaw smashed his way to 546 runs for Rizvi Springfield School in a Harris Shield match in Mumbai. A quarter century earlier, Tendulkar’s best had been 326. Having been in the limelight since his early teens, Shaw then played a starring role for India’s Under-19s, before the Indian cricket team decided to drop Shikhar Dhawan and throw the 18-year-old into the deep end for a home Test against the West Indies. Despite early success, Shaw is still finding his way in the international arena.
Here are some of Shaw’s biggest achievements:
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Shaw is the seventh-youngest player to score a Test century, at the age of 18 years and 329 days. Among Indians, only Tendulkar was younger.
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He is the youngest Indian to make a Test hundred on debut and the fourth-youngest of all time.
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Dhawan also finished as the leading scorer of the 2017 edition of the ICC Champions Trophy.
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Shaw scored 261 runs at an average of 65.25 and a strike rate of 94.56 when India won the Under-19 World Cup in 2018. Only Shubman Gill made more runs for the team.
Prithvi Shaw’s Indian T20 League Journey
Purchased for the 2018 season at a cost of ₹1.2 crore, Shaw was in the middle of leading India Under-19 to a World Cup title at the time. But Delhi didn’t have to wait too long to see him show off his talent in the Indian T20 League. After play-off hopes had slipped away, Ricky Ponting – the new coach – gave Shaw nine matches toward the end of the 2018 season. He responded with 2 thrilling half centuries. In 2019 and 2020, Delhi made the play-offs, but Shaw’s numbers were quite modest. The odd explosive innings couldn’t mask his inconsistency, and it was only in 2021 when he crossed 400 runs for the season, which highlighted just why Delhi had taken a chance with a teenage prodigy. He will be wearing the Delhi jersey yet again this year after being retained by the franchise for the 2022 season.
Here are some of Shaw’s achievements in the Indian T20 League:
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Along with Sanju Samson, Shaw is the youngest to score a half century in the competition.
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Before Shaw struck 6 fours in an over of Shivam Mavi, his Under-19 teammate, only Ajinkya Rahane had achieved the feat in the league.
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- Format
- M
- Runs
- HS
- Avg
- SR
- 100
- 50
- 4s
- 6s
- CT
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- Indian T20 League
- 53
- 1305
- 99 vs Kolkata
- 24.62
- 146.30
- 0
- 10
- 155
- 45
- 11
Prithvi Shaw: FAQs
From Gaya in Bihar. His parents migrated to Mumbai, but Ashok Gupta, his grandfather, still owns a small shop there, named Shri Balaji Cut Piece Centre, that sells textiles.
Rahul Dravid coached the side that Shaw led to World Cup glory in 2018.
anjay Potnis, a politician, did this once Shaw’s name started cropping up regularly in Mumbai’s school-cricket circles.
At the age of just 13, Shaw was one of the central characters in a documentary called “Beyond All Boundaries.” It showcased the struggles of his father, Pankaj, to bring him up after his mother passed away when Shaw was just 4.
Govinda, who also has roots in Virar, where Shaw grew up.