Xtra Time Web Desk: An under fire Prithvi Shaw on Sunday shared a post on his instagram handle targeted at his detractors and towards people who demotivates him. The talented batsman has been criticized for his poor technique against quality Australian fast bowling in the first Day Night test at Adelaide Oval. Prithvi managed to score 0 & 4 in his two innings in the first test.
The Mumbai cricketer posted: “If sometimes people demotivate you for something you try to do, that means you can do that but they can’t.”
More than the lack of runs, Shaw’s technical issues have been a cause of concern for the Indian team management. He was bowled through the gate (gap between bat and pad) in both innings, by Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins respectively.
Legendary batsmen Sunil Gavaskar and Ricky Ponting, who coached Shaw in Delhi Capitals in the IPL, were among the ones to call for Rohit Sharma to come in for Shaw. Gavaskar had been critical of the technique of the India openers saying that they were approaching the new ball with hard hands.
“You can see he (Shaw) was pushing at the deliveries (in warm-ups), playing with hard hands and that has been his major problem,” said Gavaskar. “Even in this Test, there was such a big gap between bat and pad. It was just the second delivery of the game (first innings dismissal). You want to make sure that you are playing with soft hands and as late as possible,” said Gavaskar to Channel 7.
Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting said, “You can see he’s trying to make a slight adjustment in the second innings, the gap is not that big. But the problem and the worry is that the frontfoot is not planted. It’s still in the air, he’s late on the ball, he’s late moving his weight into the ball. If he actually gets a full stride forward there, that eliminates the gap between bat and pad.”
The talented batsman had failed to get a fifty in both the warm-up games prior to the first Test, making just 62 in four innings at an average of 15.5. He also had a dismal tour to New Zealand earlier this year where he had scores of 16, 14, 54 and 14 across two test matches.