'I got fed up' - Prithvi Shaw reacts to Ricky Ponting's 'he doesn't bat in nets when he's not scoring' comment

Prithvi Shaw is a cricketer blessed with prodigious talent, and there is no doubting that. The diminutive batsman can impose his will on any bowling attack on his day. In the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Shaw was in imperious form and scored 308 runs at an average of 38.50 and a strike rate of 166.49 at the time of suspension of the tournament.

Even before the IPL, Shaw blasted 827 runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and scored his runs at an average of 165.40. But then, Shaw has experienced his lows as well. In fact, during the 2020 edition of the IPL, the right-handed batsman could score just 228 runs at a poor average of 17.54.

Also, Delhi Capitals’ (DC) Head Coach Ricky Ponting stated that when Shaw was not scoring runs, he did not like to bat in the nets. And, Shaw has now opened up on why he refused to bat in the nets. The 21-year-old stated that there were occasions when he could not score any runs and did not get the results for the work he was putting in. Shaw also revealed that he got fed up, and training continuously did not make sense to him at that point.

“This happened last year when I was scoring big runs, I wanted to keep batting but then came a few games where I didn’t get runs at all. I kept training but didn’t get the results. So beyond a point, I got fed up and said ‘if it’s not happening, I will stop training for a bit’. Because it didn’t make sense for me,” said Shaw as quoted by Cricbuzz.

“I switched off and took the backseat,” says Prithvi Shaw

Prithvi Shaw further added that he switched off for a while and took the backseat from cricket. The diminutive batsman also revealed that when he is batting well, he is too involved in his craft, but when he did not score runs, he just let go for a while.

“I just switched off for a bit and took the backseat. I was so much into it that I would spend two hours batting in the nets but then I didn’t score the runs, I just let go of it for a while. That’s what Ricky sir was talking about,” concluded Shaw.

Shaw was omitted from the Indian Test squad that will take on New Zealand in the summit clash of the World Test Championship (WTC) from 18th June 2021.

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