'I made some wrong friends, started giving less time to cricket: Prithvi Shaw speaks about the dip in his career

 

 

 

In an ideal world, Prithvi Shaw would now have been an integral part of India’s plans across formats, much like his U19 teammate Shubman Gill who is now the Test captain and considered the new face of Indian cricket.

 

When India won the U19 World Cup in 2018, Gill was the shining light of India’s batting due to his consistency but the hype was around Shaw due to his breath-taking range of strokes. It’s not like Gill isn’t aesthetic, on the contrary, he is as classy as it gets, but Shaw seemed to be a few notches higher while executing his strokes. It is this ability to produce jaw-dropping strokes that fast-tracked Shaw into First-class cricket and then, international cricket.

 

Before you knew it, Shaw had also started playing Tests and sky was the limit for him. Unfortunately, the trip Down Under in 2020-21 was baptism by fire for Shaw who endured failures and was dropped. That was the starting point of a decline that has now gone to unreal proportions. So much so that he got dropped from Mumbai’s senior side towards the end of 2024 and then bizarrely found himself unsold at the IPL 2025 auctions.

 

Many senior players, the most recent being Shreyas Iyer, had gone on record stating how Shaw could regain lost ground with a bit more discipline and better work ethic. At the crossroads of career at a very young age, Shaw admits that he lost his way.

 

“I have taken some wrong decisions in life. I feel that I started giving less time to cricket,” Shaw said in an interview with News24 Sports.

 

“I used to spend almost half of my day at the ground till 2023. But after that, I started giving importance to the wrong things.”

 

While he had never been known to have a fit body, Shaw’s physique bulked up considerably in recent years. It didn’t really affect his game as much in batting but on the field, the 25-year-old cut a sorry figure. Which is why the Mumbai selectors had to make the tough call in late 2024. 

 

Reflecting on the roller-coaster ride that saw him crash land at his peak, Shaw regretted his life choices that caused self-destruction. Apart from being indisciplined with his fitness and work ethic, Shaw was also in the headlines for the wrong reasons on other occasions too.

 

It came to a situation where Shaw’s on-field antics were hogging the headlines and those close to him knew that their friend was drifting away from his priorities. Shaw also didn’t help his cause by showing a visibly declining interest to cricket practice, something that had never happened to him in earlier years. A doping controversy in 2019 was followed by a night club incident in 2023 with the cricketing indiscipline continuing in between. Amidst all this chaos, Shaw also got hit by a personal tragedy that affected him in a big way.

 

“I made some wrong friends. At that time, I was at the top and this is the time when you attract a lot of friends. I got off-track and my time at the ground went down from 8 hours to just 4 hours.”

 

 

“There are a lot of things. It’s not just that. I had a family problem. My grandfather had passed away. He was very dear to me. There are a lot of things that I can’t tell you. But I can feel it.”

 

“I admit my mistakes. But my dad has always supported me. No matter how bad my time was. He has seen good and bad.”

 

Realising your mistakes is a positive step and the next move is to do course correction. Shaw is all set to shift from the Mumbai side in domestic cricket. The opening batter will represent Maharashtra from the 2025-26 season onward and has already been granted the No-Objection certificate by the Mumbai Cricket Association on Tuesday (June 24). It was a mutually peaceful ending to the Shaw-Mumbai bond as the cricketer sets his eyes on redemption through the upcoming Maharashtra stint.

 

“I am on track now. I have gone back to basics now. The hard work I used to do 5 years ago, I think I have started that routine again. I believe in myself. I don’t know how many people believe in me or not. But I believe in myself. I know how to get there. That’s why I am doing all this,” said Shaw.

 

“But one thing that dad has said. Only Prithvi Shaw can bring himself back there. No one else can. So I have left everything."

 

Apart from Gill, the other teammates from Shaw’s 2018 U19 batch in Abhishek Sharma and Arshdeep Singh are also progressing in their respective careers at a brisk rate. Riyan Parag, another prominent name from that squad, is also doing well for himself in the IPL and has also got an India cap recently. While he has a lot of friends in the current Indian team and before, Shaw reveals how only one player took time out to speak with him during his low phase.

 

“Except Rishabh Pant. And also Sachin Tendulkar, He knows my struggles. He has seen me grow up with Arjun Tendulkar. I have gone to his house also," Shaw revealed with palpable sorrow.

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