Prithvi Shaw gets no support from past and present Indian cricketers: 'I don't want sympathy, no one is perfect'

Prithvi Shaw marked his move to Maharashtra in the domestic circuit with emphasis, scoring a century on debut for his new state team in a one-man-show during their Buchi Babu Trophy match against Chhattisgarh. In response to their opponents putting up 242, Maharashtra could only score 217 — 111 of those runs coming from Shaw’s bat, making this an early score of significance. Prithvi Shaw raises his bat enroute to his century at the Guru Nanak College Ground in Chennai during the Buchi Babu Trophy.(Hindu)

Shaw’s struggles with discipline and fitness in recent years have been a common talking point as one of India’s most promising talents faded from the spotlight, but such an innings is an indication that the 25-year-old can still go on to forge a career to be proud of.

“I don’t mind coming from scratch again because I’ve seen many ups and downs in my life … I’m kind of a very confident guy, confident in myself, my work ethics. I feel, I hope that this season will go really well for me as well as for my team,” said Shaw after close of day’s play.

Shaw was his typical attacking self as he reached his half-century at over a run-a-ball: while the opening partnership was worth 71, his partner only scored 10. After that, the wickets started tumbling at the other end, including a returning Ruturaj Gaikwad, who could only score 1. Nevertheless, Shaw stayed positive and batted through, ensuring the deficit was under control.

‘Social media, it’s quite bad…'

Speaking about what had changed for him to bring about such a performance, Shaw maintained it was just a matter of fine-tuning and fixing the small mistakes, rather than trying for a sensational change.

“I don’t want to change anything. I just went back to basics, doing things that I used to do in Under-19 days, which got me to the Indian team, just doing all the stuff back again, you know,” explained the 25-year-old, who last played for India in 2021. “Practicing more, gym, running. It’s small things, obviously, it’s not that big because I’ve been doing these things since the age of 12 and 13.”

He also went on to explain that sharpening things up on the discipline front included keeping track of what sort of information he took in, which meant staying away from social media and not allowing himself to focus on the negativity that it brings.

“Just trying to be myself and not really trying to be on social media or anything and those kinds of distractions. Nowadays social media, it’s quite bad. It’s kind of peaceful when I’m not using it,” explained Shaw, who has found himself on the wrong end of critical attacks in the past.

‘I was not really well mentally…’

However, most telling from Shaw’s perspective was his response to whether he had heard from any former players or teammates regarding his century and a good start to this new phase. The answer was a resounding no, but Shaw maintained this wasn’t something he was striving for at this stage of his career.

“I mean, it’s fine. I mean, I don’t want anyone’s sympathy. It’s okay. I’ve seen this before as well. I’ve got my family’s support. And my friends who were there with me when I was not really well mentally as well. So, it’s okay,” concluded the batter, who will be hoping this is just step one of the rest of his career.

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