Prithvi Shaw‘s struggles continue. Already going through a rough patch of form, the opener was dropped from Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy 2024-25 squad ahead of their match against Tripura. The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) had claimed to have given him a ‘break‘.
“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.
Prithvi Shaw: Overweight & Indiscipline
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.
An MCA official revealed that while Shardul Thakur, Shreyas Iyer, and Rahane hardly miss a practice/net session, Shaw has been skipping them left and right. Having scored just 59 runs in the first two matches of the Ranji Trophy season, this didn’t sit well with the Mumbai management. If Shaw doesn’t feel practice is necessary when he’s not getting runs, what’ll he do when he starts scoring?
Mumbai are already without several starters like Suryakumar Yadav, Tushar Deshpande, and Tanush Kotian (called for India A’s tour of Australia A). Despite that, they feel dropping Prithvi Shaw is the right call. Right now, it’s uncertain whether the opener will return to the squad for the Odisha match (November 6-10) at the MCA Cricket Ground.
Mumbai’s squad for Tripura match
Ajinkya Rahane (c), Ayush Mhatre, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Akhil Herwadkar, Shreyas Iyer, Siddhessh Lad, Suryansh Shedge, Hardik Tamore (wk), Sidhaant Addhatrao (wk), Shams Mulani, Karsh Kothari, Himanshu Singh, Shardul Thakur, Mohit Avasthi, Mohd. Juned Khan and Royston Dias.
