Mumbai cricket team batter Prithvi Shaw is once again under fire, with his fitness flaring up once again to get him benched in the Ranji Trophy. Shaw has been “rested” from the squad for Mumbai’s next Ranji Trophy game, and the reason cited was the opener being overweight. It isn’t the first time Shaw has been pulled up over maintaining fitness, as it as so happened in the past in IPL and the national team.
Prithvi Shaw’s IPL future, domestic career at stake
Prithvi Shaw was dropped from Mumbai’s squad as there was 35% body fat found after tests, which is way above the permissible level for players to take the field. Unfortunately, this comes at the very wrong time for the batter. Firstly, the deadline for franchises to submit their retention list is just around the corner. The fitness fiasco surely doesn’t help Prithvi Shaw’s case in terms of expecting the Delhi Capitals to retain him. While he is most likely not even in the scheme of things for the franchise, this issue can haunt him even if he goes under the hammer in the IPL 2025 auction later this year. Teams would surely think twice before raising the paddle for Shaw and right now it looks like he is a certain name on the unsold list.
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Next, his domestic red-ball career is another challenge that he was to deal with. He has a great first-class record, boasting of 4556 runs from 58 games and averaging 46.02. In his last nine matches, he has only managed to score a half-century once while has been dismissed for single-digit scores on five occasions. Playing the County Championships did not help Shaw either. While he was a part of Mumbai’s XI in the Irani Cup tie and the first two rounds of the Ranji, he did not put up any noticeable performances barring a 76-run knock against ROI.
Why was Prithvi Shaw “rested”?
The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) had claimed to have given him a ‘break‘. According to Cricbuzz, the Mumbai selection committee, which consists of Sanjay Patil, Ravi Thaker, Jeetendra Thackeray, Kiran Powar, and Vikrant Yeligeti, head coach Omkar Salvi, and captain Ajinkya Rahane, all feel that Shaw is ‘overweight’ and doesn’t take practice seriously enough. Therefore, he should be dropped for at least one game.
“He has been given a break. The selectors and the coach have had a discussion with him and have briefed him about areas to work on, including fitness,” Abhay Hadap, MCA secretary had told The Hindu yesterday. Well, it seems like a tap on the wrist more.
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