Prithvi Shaw
Former Indian cricketer and a Ranji Trophy legend Wasim Jaffer expressed his concerns over the manner in which Prithvi Shaw's career panned out so far despite being a "special talent". Advising him to be disciplined, Jaffer urged the youngster to look up to his teammates Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan.
Shaw experienced Sachin Tendulkar comparisons from an early age, not for the feats he achieved in the domestic Ranchi and Duleep tournaments in 2017, but even for his batting technique. A year later, he even guided India's U-19 team to World Cup glory and within months earned his international debut during the home Test series against West Indies. And with a knock of 134 on his debut, Shaw became the youngest India to score a century on Test debut.
Shaw soon emerged as a perfect solution for India's opening problem and became a certain option for the management for the Australia tour in 2018/19. But an ankle injury ruled out his participation before he was handed an eight-month ban for taking a prohibited anti-asthma drug.
"He is a special talent and I am a little disappointed with the way things have taken its course after his ankle injury and then his ban for using the banned substance," former Test opener Jaffer told AFP.
"Seeing all this troubles me, because he is very, very talented. But he needs to be disciplined if he wants to achieve great things.
"He is living in that Indian circle where he has got role models like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan who are so disciplined."
Jaffer, who played 31 Tests for India, further added, "There is much competition and he missed so many Tests and internationals and does not need to do that because this is his time to fulfil his potential."
Overall, Shaw played four Tests for India - two more in the New Zealand series earlier this year where he had scored a gritty half-century to win some praise from the skipper.
Jaffer, while citing Kohli's example, reckoned that the youngster should be ready to take in the pressure of playing at the bigger stage.
"Whenever you perform at the top level, the media and the people hype you so much, but it is an individual's responsibility to learn," said Jaffer.
"Virat keeps himself grounded. Every rising batsman in Mumbai circles is right away compared to Tendulkar. Everything boils down to performance."
