Prithvi Shaw marked his return to competitive cricket with a stunning century for Mumbai in their Ranji Trophy match against Chhattisgarh. It was his first match since August 13 last year when he suffered a knee injury during his county stunt and had to undergo surgery in London. Shaw slammed 18 boundaries and three six to slam 159 off 185 deliveries. Thanks to the century, Shaw also became the first batter to score two centuries in the opening session on day one of a first-class cricket match. While the knock was a huge confidence boost for the cricketer, legendary India batter Sunil Gavaskar was less than convinced and he said that Shaw will have to work on his technique or else he is going to struggle.
“Time for him to step up but what has happened is that a lot of teams have found that because of his predominant movement onto the front foot and that high backlift, they go the short way with him. So unless he starts to learn to play off the back foot, he is going to struggle. If the pitches are such where the ball doesn’t come up, then it will be fantastic for him,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.
Earlier, Shaw revealed that he was a bit anxious and pessimistic about his return to action. Shaw said that he feared whether he’ll be able to bat like he used to before his injury. Notably, Shaw had picked up a knee injury while playing for Northamptonshire in the County Championship.
“I wanted to do well but somewhere I wondered whether I would be able to bat in my style or not. Kaise kheloonga (how will I play), when I would make a comeback and whether it will be on a good note or not. These were the thoughts which were going around. But after I stayed for a few hours, things became normal,” Shaw told The Indian Express.
Shaw further opened up that doing “match simulation” helped him overcome the strange feeling.
“I wasn’t nervous but the feeling was a bit ajeeb (strange) when I resumed my batting. However, I did a match simulation and was motivating myself that everything will be fine. My body language was fine.”
