Report – India batsman Prithvi Shaw asked to lose weight before thinking of a national comeback

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the squad for the upcoming ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final and England tour on Friday.

The 21-year-old, Prithvi Shaw, was left out of the 20 member squad revealed by the board.

The selectors named four openers, Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Mayank Agarwal, and KL Rahul. They also preferred Bengal opening batsman Abhimanyu Easwaran as a backup apart from the selected players.

Shaw was dropped earlier from the Indian team after failing to make a mark in the Test series against Australia. He was later replaced by his Under-19 teammate Shubman Gill. Despite getting dropped from the Indian Test squad, he made a startling comeback within the subsequent Vijay Hazare Trophy and Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021.

In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the batsman smashed over 800 runs in eight games while averaging 165.40. He continued his run in the IPL for the Delhi Capitals (DC), scoring 307 runs at a healthy strike rate of 166.

Shaw has now been asked to “reduce weight” by the selectors if he wants to make a comeback in the Indian team.

A BCCI source in a conversation with the Times of India stated, “Prithvi is still very slow across the turf for a 21-year-old. He needs to shed a few more kilos. He also had concentration issues while fielding in Australia. Shaw has been working hard since he returned from Australia. He has the example of Rishabh Pant right in front of him. If Pant can turn things around in a few months, Prithvi, too, can do it.”

He was also asked to continue good form in a few more tournaments and become more consistent.

“He has to sustain this form for a few more tournaments. He has often been picked on the basis of one good series and then he has struggled in international cricket, He is too good a player to be ignored for long,” the source added.

Earlier, Rishabh Pant faced the heat because of weight issues and was left out of the team. He staged a comeback with staggering performances at the Test level, reducing his weight considerably.