Prithvi Shaw
Prithvi Shaw's woeful run with the bat continued as he was dismissed cheaply by Pat Cummins on Day 2 of the pink-ball Test on Friday. The youngster's career has been plagued with a string of low scores, putting his place in the national side in jeopardy.
Shaw's batting technique has also been under scrutiny and many former cricketers believe that he's been leaving a big gap between the bat and the pad. Both dismissals of Shaw in the Adelaide Test exposed flaws in his batting technique. While Mitchell Starc tore through his defence in the first innings, Cummins shattered his woodwork in the second.
Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting, also Shaw's coach in his IPL franchise Delhi Capitals, pointed out where it's gone wrong for the Mumbai batsman. With scores of 0 and 4 in two innings, Shaw might be shown the exit door in the subsequent Test, with Shubman Gill and KL Rahul waiting in line to get into the starting squad.
"You can see that he's trying to make a slight adjustment in the second innings, the gap's not as big, but the problem and the worry are his front foot is not planted. His front foot'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 over there, that eliminates that gap between pad and bat
You can see his foot off the ground. He makes about three movements with his front foot but his front foot doesn't actually go anywhere," said Ponting on 7 Cricket.
Earlier, in the first innings, Ponting had accurately predicted Shaw's dismissal when he was on-air. Ponting had talked about Shaw's footwork and the gap between pad and bat, minutes before Starc bowled him through the gates.
"If he does have a chink in his armour it's the ball which does come back into him," Ponting said ahead of the wicket. "(Shaw) quite often leaves a big gap between bat and pad and that's where the Aussies will target.
