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Prithvi Shaw's shock and awe at the IPL
IPL 2021: For the number crunchers, the most astounding aspect was Prithvi Shaw's strike-rate – a whopping 138.29. Here was a man out to make amends for his poor show with an aggressive intent.
Post their fifth loss in seven games, Kolkata Knight Riders captain Eoin Morgan was a dejected man. “Talent alone doesn’t get you far. It’s about execution,” the England T20 skipper’s lament was pointed mostly at youngsters Shivam Mavi and Shubman Gill. But it also held true for their rival, Delhi Capitals opener Prithvi Shaw.
Those three men have risen up the ranks after playing together at the 2018 U-19 World Cup. Their talent has never been in question, yet they ended up having a contrasting night on Thursday owing to execution.
Opener Gill (43, 38b) was slow off the blocks and failed to set the momentum for Kolkata. Then Mavi had to be taken off the attack after conceding 25 runs in the only over he bowled. Out of those, 24 were scored by his captain from the U-19 days - Shaw. That mighty start with six straight fours resulted in an 18-ball half-century, the fastest in IPL 2021 so far. It was yet another milestone in Shaw’s resurgence.
After scores of 0 and 4 in the Adelaide Test against Australia last December, which saw him sidelined from the Indian team, Shaw has been a changed man. He became the first player to score 800-plus runs in a single Vijay Hazare Trophy season with a tally of 827 for Mumbai in February-March. It included a 152-ball 227* against Puducherry – the highest score in the tournament's history. He also scored two more 150-plus scores, making him the first man in List A cricket to score above 150 thrice in a single season. For the number crunchers, the most astounding aspect was his strike-rate – a whopping 138.29. Here was a man out to make amends for his poor show with an aggressive intent.
If cynics wanted to dismiss that as a case of dominance in domestic cricket, Shaw has continued in the same vein against the international bowlers at the IPL too.
He has reached the top three in the run charts with 269 in seven matches at a strike-rate of 165.03. Only Ravindra Jadeja, AB de Villiers and Pat Cummins are above him on strike rate. Shaw is also among the three batsmen to have scored three half-centuries so far, KL Rahul and Faf du Plessis being the others.
“When I think I am in good touch I don’t think about the score anymore. When I am batting, I don’t care about myself, I just want my team to win,” Shaw said after his 41-ball 82 against Kolkata.
That he had played against Mavi in his U-19 days helped him hit those cracking fours in the first over, he added. “I wasn’t thinking anything to be honest. I was just waiting for the loose ball. I knew where Shivam will bowl to me – we have played together for four-five years,” he said.
“Yes, I was prepared for the short ball. I thought one will come at the helmet, but he didn’t bowl. I felt on this wicket, especially when the spinner was bowling, it was stopping a bit and naturally it was going over the off side. So, I was waiting for them to bowl at me on off or outside off so that I can free my hands.”
Shaw talked about the days after his return from Australia and thanked his father for lifting his moral. “I feel my dad has supported me very well. After getting dropped from the Australia tour, I was really not happy with myself, that ‘What am I doing?’ And my dad just said to play my natural game, work hard on it,” Shaw said. “When talent is not getting you what you want, just work hard and get that back again. These words really set a target for me and I worked hard after that. Obviously, in cricket, the graph is going to be up and down for sure. Lots of failures are going to come in my career, but I am not really thinking about that. Just going day by day.”
Shaw’s clarity of thought and his execution left Kolkata coach Brendon McCullum impressed too. The former New Zealand captain explained how Shaw’s belligerent approach knocked down his team so hard that they could not recover.
“It was a huge psychological blow from Prithvi Shaw. I have an immense amount of respect for Prithvi because not too many people in world cricket play the game with that sort of approach,” McCullum said. “You have got to give kudos as well to Rishabh Pant and Ricky Ponting and the Delhi Capitals management that they've been able to ask a player to bat like that, and for him to buy into it. He's a rare talent, he put us under an immense amount of pressure early.
“You shouldn't be shell-shocked in one over and not be able to respond to it, but we were tonight. And that's going to ask some tough questions of us. But I won’t stress, I thought Prithvi Shaw was outstanding, played a wonderful innings and he deserves the accolades.”
