Xtra Time Web Desk: Believe it or not, former India coach Greg Chappell is behind the success of Prithvi Shaw. The former Australian cricketer was the man who singled out Shaw’s flaws in technique and helped him overcome it. Chappell, who has been a looked upon as a controversial figure when it comes to Indian cricket but as a batting technician, he is still rated highly.
During the recent tour to Australia, Prithvi’s technical flaws was exposed by Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc in Adelaide Oval during the Pink Ball Test. Shaw managed to last only six deliveries including both innings as both the Aussie quicks noticed a chink in his technique. On both occasion he was unsettled by incoming deliveries as there was a big gap between his bat and pads.
Observing Shaw closely, Greg got in touch with the young opener while he was still in Australia to share his observations, according to a source close to Shaw. The reason according to Chappell was Shaw’s mental block against genuine fast bowlers. Technically, Chappell advised him (Prithvi) to get his weight on the front foot, expecting the full ball and be ready to get a good stride forward to meet it. Shaw wasn’t doing that, according to Chappell, because he was worried about genuine pace. That was the crux of it – fear of raw pace was making Shaw hang back, which meant his weight was behind him and not on the front foot. So, when the weight hangs back and the hands are pushed forward, a gap appears between bat and pad. If the front knee bends and the weight goes forward over the front foot, the bat and pad stay together. It was as precise and simple as that.
Prithvi worked on the shortcoming in his technique against incoming deliveries while he was in Australia. The youngster also had long discussions at the nets with Team India Head Coach Ravi Shastri and batting coach Vikram Rathour. After returning back from Australia, Shaw visited master Sachin Tendulkar and soughted his help. Prtivi also worked with Praveen Amre who is the assistant coach of Delhi Capitals.
Prithvi worked on his technique and the results showed immediately. The Mumbai captain had a stupendous performance in the recently concluded Vijay Hazare Trophy, guiding his team to its fourth title. He scored a whopping 827 runs in the tournament including four consecutive hundreds.