Prithvi Shaw: The rise and fade of Indian cricket’s wonder boy

Rishabh Pant signed by Lucknow SuperGiants for 27 crore rupees ($ 2.54 million ) last month, making him the most expensive player in Indian Premier League ( IPL) history.

However, more attention was drawn to the announcement that Prithvi Shaw’s Delhi Capitals partner, Prithvi Shaw, was going unsold.

Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Ponting, who had been strongly associated with Shaw in his time with the Capital, were among those present in the bidding who were in positions to make requests, while was Rahul Dravid, who was India’s under-19 World Cup coach when they won the under-19 World Cup under Shaw in 2018.

Their indifference was telling. Shaw found no buyers.

Unfortunately, just nine months before, before the start of the 2024 IPL period, it was Pant whose profession looked in trouble.

A tragic car accident in December 2022 had left him with many lethal injuries. But showing metal did, great determination and self-discipline, Pant fought his way up from what seemed a dead-end to his career.

Pant faced the challenges of IPL 2024 head-on and excelled, earning a quick remember to foreign baseball. He was part of the T20 World Cup-winning crew. He won the home Duleep Trophy before dominating the domestic season, opening the door for a dramatic returning to Test cricket. Against Bangladesh, he lit up the field with a searing era.

Shaw, however, under strain after a couple of poor Tournament times, has lurched from one issue to another.

He was replaced in the playing XI mid-season due to his inconsistent type in IPL 2024. He was forced to lose his position in the Mumbai Ranji Trophy staff due to a string of subpar performances in the current home period. And an illegal turnout in the IPL mega auction has caused his career to risk coming to a premature conclusion.

It’s been a magnificent fall for the 25-year-old, who not too long ago, was touted as the’ future great point’ in Indian baseball.

Shaw hit the headlines in November 2013 as a 14-year-old when he smashed 546 goes for Rizvi Springfield in the Harris Shield, a prestigious university baseball game. It was the highest rating in slight cricket at the time in the world.

Sachin Tendulkar, India’s most famous bowler, had retired just a year earlier, and Shaw earned an instant contrast with the master.

Tendulkar’s extraordinary rise to prominence, particularly in Mumbai, was a result of his record-setting 664-run collaboration with Vinod Kambli in a college game in 1987. Shaw was one of them.

Although Tendulkar had a small, stocky beginning batsman, Shaw lacks the technological prowess that Tendulkar had when he was just a teenager. But he had the right timing and delivered the harm to the cricketers with such awe that candidates were immediately attracted to him.

He was fast-tracked into first-class baseball, like Tendulkar, scoring a decade on comeback in the local Ranji and Duleep Trophy, which hardened comparisons between the two.

In later 2018, he got a Examine call-up against the West Indies. Shaw hit 134 off only 154 sales, studded with rifle-shot drives, breaks and takes. He was just 19 years old. Just Lee among Indians had reached the milestone of his first Examine century when he was a younger man.

Shaw was hailed as a respectable son to Tendulkar and Virat Kohli and had the entire world at his toes. But he’s been on a wet hill since.

Just four more Testing followed his dramatic comeback, which he played in six years later. A batsman’s precocity had promised a long, brilliant career, but when you add six Batsmen and a single T20i, the overall total of international appearances is also terrible.

An unfortunate foot injury, which saw him being sent back from the tour of Australia in 2020 was the start of Shaw’s problems. Later that year, he tested positive for a banned substance and was lucky to get away with a light sentence. Thereafter his batting form started declining steadily, touching excellence agonisingly infrequently to impress selectors.

Meanwhile stories of Shaw getting embroiled in wild parties and brawls started to spread. By the middle of IPL 2024, he was on notice, as it were. After the IPL 2025 mega auction, his career seems engulfed in uncertainty.

Injury, disease, and poor type can undermine even the best, but those close to Shaw show that tragedy has played just a small part in his perilous death.

Ricky Ponting, who as Delhi Capitals coach worked closely with Shaw, says:” There’s only so much]advice ] you can give and only so many times you can try]to sort him out ]”.

Former India batsman Praveen Amre, who was assistant coach with Delhi Capitals was more direct. “Prithvi’s inability to handle IPL fame and money has been his undoing. I’ve talked to him several times, giving him the example of Vinod Kambli who frittered away his career for the lack of discipline,’’ Amre told a national daily.

The IPL has revolutionised young people ‘ life, offering a program for ability and employment. However, the challenges of first success, quick fame, and fast wealth remain pressing. Rahul Dravid, drawing on his knowledge as U-19 and India A manager, has emphasised the need for stronger junior-level mentoring to maintain people on record. Shaw’s problems underscore the importance of his information.

What Shaw time’s coming holds.

At 25, he also has time on his aspect. However, there is a lot of talent in Indian bowling, and sites are being fiercely sought after. The journey from here is all upward.

If Prithvi Shaw has good people around him who care about his long-term victory, they would lay him over, advise him to get off social media, and teach his entire back to become very fit.” Some of the greatest sports stories are comeback stories. It will lead him back to the right path, where success from the past can be resurrected. Former England captain Kevin Pietersen posted on X,” Too talented to throw it all away.

The message to Shaw is clear. His own hands are in charge of redemption.

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