Image Credit- AP
Prior to the IPL
2022 mega auction, the Delhi Capitals decided to hold onto four players,
including Prithvi Shaw. He was predicted, along with skipper Rishabh Pant, to
be one of the new faces of the team.
There has always been promise. For this reason, he remains on the walls and the
billboards of the ACA-VDCA stadium in Visakhapatnam, the Capitals’ 2024
adoptive home, despite the fact that he hasn’t played a single game this
season. However, he’s finding it difficult to give it justice right now.
Shaw was forced into
a pull on the eve of the match against the Chennai Super Kings, and as a
result, he took one of the first balls he faced—a side-arm specialist—on his
upper body. Shaw then extended his hands to grab the ball and wafted it away as
he was given an outside off. It did not quite hold up. He eventually got one on
his legs and blasted it over the long-on queue. However, he did not create the
same level of excitement as Pant and the recently signed Jake Fraser-McGurk of
the Capitals did when they repeatedly put the ball over the goal line.
All cricket players
experience highs and lows, but eventually they settle into a pattern or rhythm
that enables them to play at a consistent level. But with Shaw, there seems to
be no middle ground at times.
In his last 14 IPL innings, he has only scored one half-century. Even halfway
through the previous season, he was dropped. After that, he travelled to
England and crushed 244 for Northamptonshire in a List A match. It was hoped
that he would continue that form into the Indian domestic season, but a knee
injury ended that plan. Now he finds himself back here, needing to start again
in a competition where mistakes are not tolerated.
In their last two
games, the Capitals have used 27-year-old Ricky Bhui, an uncapped batter from
Andhra, instead of Shaw. Team director Sourav Ganguly has stated that Bhui is a
better fit for the middle order gap the team has. Bhui gave the keeper five tickles
to open the season. Shai Hope was hurt in his subsequent inning, so he was
moved up to No. 3, when Nandre Burger struck him out for a duck.
The best players find ways to use the adversity they face to make themselves
better. Shaw has had his share of that, both on and off the field. His career
is at a crossroads. But at 24 years old, he has time on his side, and it is
clear that he is trying to put in the effort. Whether the payoff comes or not
is anybody’s guess.