As the Indian Premier League (IPL) heads towards the business end, legendary Indian opener Virender Sehwag recalled his less-noticed connection with youngster Prithvi Shaw. Many people think that Indian cricket’s great opener Shaw has fallen behind the pack since the rise of Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Shaw, who was once thought to be the next big thing in Indian cricket, was even benched by the Delhi Capitals following a spate of poor performances in the first half of the IPL 2023. The batter, who has recently been under fire, demonstrated on Wednesday at Dharamsala why DC is so highly regarded by smashing a quick-fire half-century in the team’s emphatic victory over Shikhar Dhawan’s Punjab Kings. Shaw scored 54 runs off of 38 pitches.
During the lead-up to Delhi Capitals’ IPL 2023 encounter versus Punjab Kings, ex DC captain Sehwag spoke openly regarding the strange situation of Shaw and his interactions with the Indian opening batter. A fascinating narrative of seeing renowned cricketer Sunil Gavaskar while playing in the 2003–2004 season was also related by the former Indian World cup winner.
He (Prithvi Shaw) did an ad shoot with me. Shubman Gill was also there. None of them talked about cricket for once. We were there for 6 hours. If you want to talk to someone then you have to approach them.
At the time of his prime, Sehwag was easily a living disaster for elite bowlers, but former India opener Chopra was renowned for his traditional batting approach in cricket’s longest version. Chopra and Sehwag had successful opening stands in the Australian Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2003–04 season. Speaking of Shaw, former India captain Sehwag emphasised the significance of strengthening the mental game to produce the expected outcomes.
“When I was new to the team, I wanted to talk to Sunny Bhai (Gavaskar), So I said to John Wright that ‘I’m still a new player, I don’t know whether Sunny Bhai will meet me or not’, but you should organize that meeting. So Wright organised a dinner in 2003-04 for me and I also said that my (opening) partner Aakash Chopra will also come so that we can talk about batting. So he came and had dinner with us. So, you have to make that effort. Sunil Gavaskar won’t make an effort to talk to Sehwag or Chopra. You have to request him,”
