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Tag: Prithvi Shaw

  • Made small changes in my technique, minimized mistakes: Delhi Capitals batsman Prithvi Shaw

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: A minor change in technique coupled with focus on cutting down on silly mistakes has been Prithvi Shaw’s recipe for success after a poor run of form that found him out of national team during the England series.

    The 21-year-old on Saturday blasted his way to a 38-ball 72-run innings as Delhi Capitals chased down a winning target of 189 against CSK with more than an over to spare.

    “I made some small changes in my batting before the IPL. I just wanted to minimize all the mistakes I was making, and I worked hard,” said Shaw in a release on Sunday.

    The change that he referred to was positioning of his back-lift.

    Earlier, his bat would come down at an angle from the gully region, causing problems with the incoming deliveries but after working with Amre, the back-lift is more straightened reducing the gap between bat and pad.

    Last year, Shaw was dropped from DC’s playing XI after a string of low scores in UAE and also omitted from India’s Test squad after scoring 0 and 4 in the first Test in Adelaide.

    After working on his technique, Shaw returned to amass a whopping 827 runs in 8 matches in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

    “I practised for two weeks with Strength & Conditioning Coach Rajinikanth Sivagnanam sir and Pravin Amre sir before the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Then I just played my natural game with a few changes in the Vijay Hazare Trophy,” he said.

    Shaw shared a 138-run opening stand with Shikhar Dhawan (85) before being dismissed by Dwayne Bravo in the 14th over.

    “Very happy with the way I batted…the opening stand which we got was very crucial for us. Chasing 190 odd is not easy without a good start,” he said.

    “It was a great win for us; however, I should’ve stayed in the middle until the end. So, if I have to rate my innings out of 10, I will give an 8 to myself.”

    Talking about DC head coach Ricky Ponting, Shaw said: “With Ricky, I generally speak to him about tactics and strategies as a batsman.

    “He has played so much of cricket and he has got the experience which he can share with us and he does especially with the youngsters. I am really enjoying working with him.”

    Asked about skipper Rishabh Pant, who replaced an injured Shreyas Iyer ahead of this season, Shaw said: “We really miss Shreyas Iyer, and he led the team very well. However, Rishabh Pant is very smart. He is fearless and enjoys the game. He’s very entertaining on the field and is very cool and calm as a captain. He’s doing a fantastic job for the team.”Delhi will next play Rajasthan Royals on April 15 in Mumbai.

  • IPL 2021: Openers Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw help DC crush CSK by 7 wickets

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Openers Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw pummelled Chennai Super Kings into submission with their explosive batting as Delhi Capitals romped to a seven-wicket victory in their Indian Premier League opener here on Saturday.

    Dhawan smashed 85 off 54 balls and Shaw amassed 72 in just 38 deliveries as DC chased down a target of 189 comfortably with 1.2 overs to spare.

    New skipper Rishabh Pant hit the winning runs.

    With Shaw and Dhawan in rollicking form, Delhi Capitals started on a rousing note and were sitting pretty at 65 for no loss at the end of the six Powerplay overs.

    ALSO READ | CSK captain MS Dhoni blames poor bowling execution for DC defeat

    The two openers went for their big shots with impunity, and on all sides of the Wankhede Stadium, as Delhi Capitals raced past 100 in quick time.

    Needing 90 runs in the last 10 overs and with all wickets in hand, DC could afford to dictate terms and put pressure on CSK.

    That Shardul Thakur and Sam Curran were sent for a leather hunt put CSK completely out of contest.

    For Shaw, the innings was an extension of his Vijay Hazare Trophy form and the slight tweak in his technique and a straight backlift is working wonders for Shaw.

    “I worked on the back-and-across [movement], I focused with Pravin sir as well. I think it’s working quite well,” Shaw said.

    The fours and sixes continued to rain as DC inched closer to the target with consummate ease While the CSK bowling attack had no answer to the strokes played by the DC openers, what added to their misery were two dropped catches of Shaw on 38 and 47, with Moeen Ali being the unfortunate bowler on both occasions.

    Making full use of the reprieves, Shaw raced to half century in just 27 balls while his senior partner Dhawan go to the landmark in 35 deliveries.

    Shaw hit nine fours and three sixes, while Dhawan struck 10 boundaries and two maximums before getting out to miss out on a hundred.

    Earlier, Suresh Raina announced his IPL comeback with a blazing 36-ball 54 and powered his team to a solid 188 for seven.

    Sam Curran smashed 34 off only 15 balls to prop up the CSK innings towards the end.

    Curran hit four fours and two sixes.

    The last five overs yielded 52 runs for CSK, thanks to Curran’s power-packed innings.

    Asked to bat first by Rishabh Pant, Ruturaj Gaikwad got CSK off the mark with a pleasing drive through the off side between point and cover, two deliveries after being beaten all ends up by a Chris Woakes outswinger.

    Last season’s runners-up DC didn’t have to wait long for their first breakthrough as Avesh Khan (2/23 in 4 overs) had Faf du PLessis trapped in front of the wicket in the second over.

    In the first ball of the third over, Woakes had Gaikwad caught in the slip cordon as CSK slipped to seven for two.

    The English pacer drew Gaikwad into a push with a ball that moved a slightly on pitching.

    In came Raina — he had missed the last IPL owing to personal reasons — and in the company of Moeen Ali, the seasoned campaigner revived CSK’s innings and looked to put up a challenging total against a strong DC batting line-up at the Wankhede Stadium.

    During his 24-ball 36, Moeen struck four boundaries and two sixes, playing a fine helping hand to Raina.

    Experienced off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin cut short Moeen’s innings when the all-rounder got himself into an uncomfortable position while going for a reverse sweep, the ensuing top-edge ending in a good catch by Shikhar Dhawan, who ran backwards from short third man to hold on to the ball.

    Ambati Rayudu came in and straightaway got into the act, hitting a couple of sixes and a four to race away to 23 off 16 balls before Tom Curran ended his stay in the middle.

    Meanwhile Raina went about his task in a manner that did not give the impression that he was coming back to top-flight after a long hiatus.

    Raina got himself going with a four off Woakes and then worked Ashwin for two successive boundaries, not afraid to dance down the wicket against the wily spinner’s flight.

    Using his feet well, the veteran southpaw hoicked leg-spinner Amit Mishra for two and also got a maximum against Ashwin.

    It was no different with Marcus Stoinis as Raina pulled the Australian medium pacer for another six before being run-out following a mix-up with Ravindra Jadeja (26).

  • Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting recalls Prithvi Shaw’s ‘interesting’ training habits

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting has revealed that Prithvi Shaw refused to bat in the nets when he hit a bad patch in the last IPL and hoped that the highly-rated Indian youngster has changed his training habits “for the better” ahead of the upcoming edition.

    The former Australian skipper has been working with the 21-year-old for the past two seasons in the Delhi Capitals camp.

    He recalled how Shaw simply refused to pad up for nets when after scoring two fifties last season, he was hit by a slump.

    “…he had an interesting theory on his batting last year – when he’s not scoring runs, he won’t bat, and when he is scoring runs, he wants to keep batting all the time,” Ponting told ‘cricket.com.au’ as his side geared for the event starting April 9 in Chennai.

    “He had four or five games where he made under 10 and I’m telling him, ‘We have to go to the nets and work out (what’s wrong)’, and he looked me in the eye and said, ‘No, I’m not batting today’. I couldn’t really work that out.”

    “He might have changed. I know he’s done a lot of work over the last few months, that theory that he had might have changed, and hopefully, it has, because if we can get the best out of him, he could be a superstar player”.

    Ponting joined the DC squad on March 29 and just completed his week-long quarantine required to enter the IPL bio-bubble.

    Ponting said he did not hold back from giving a piece of his mind to the youngster last year but he “stuck to his word” and did not practice towards the business end of the tournament.

    “I was going pretty hard at him. I was basically telling him, ‘Mate you’ve got to get in the nets. Whatever you think you’re working on, is not working for you’,” he remembered telling him.

    “It’s my job as a coach to challenge someone’s preparation if they’re not getting results.”

    “So I challenged him and he stuck to his word and he didn’t practice much at all towards the back-end of the tournament, and didn’t get many runs towards the back-end of the tournament either.”

    However, Ponting is confident that Shaw will make it big internationally.

    “Maybe (his training habits) have changed for the better, because (his success) won’t just be for the Delhi Capitals, I’m sure you’ll see him play a lot of cricket for India as well in the coming years,” said Ponting.

    Ponting said there are visible similarities between Shaw and the great Sachin Tendulkar, right down to their diminutive frames.

    “He’s diminutive in the (Sachin) Tendulkar sort of mould but hits the ball incredibly powerfully off front and back foot, and plays spin really well,” he said.

    Shaw heads to the IPL on the back of a sensational Vijay Hazare Trophy campaign with champions Mumbai.

    Leading the side to victory, he scored four centuries and ended the tournament as the top scorer.

    “If we can get him to take that form that he’s just shown into the IPL, it just makes the balance on our Delhi Capital side so good.

    “If (the penny) does drop – I’m not sure I’ve seen many more talented players than him in my whole time of playing the game,” Ponting said.