CHENNAI: Having shifted from Mumbai to Maharashtra, out of favour India batter Prithvi Shaw notched up a brilliant century (111; 141b; 15x4, 1x6) in his first competitive outing for his new side against Chhattisgarh in the Buchi Babu Invitational Tournament held at Guru Nanak College here on Tuesday.
The 25-year-old opener, who shifted from Mumbai earlier this year, brought up his hundred off 122 deliveries, holding firm at one end on a challenging surface that was aiding the spinners from the morning. For Shaw, this century carries a lot of significance as he had been dropped from the Mumbai Ranji squad last season and last played for them in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 in December 2024.
After going unsold at the IPL 2025 auction and facing questions over his form and fitness, Shaw decided to move over to Maharashtra to revive his domestic career. "It feels really nice to get a ton, especially because I am playing my first game for Maharashtra. It feels nice obviously. I haven't played a 3-day or 4-day game in a long time. Obviously Chennai is quite hot, but it feels really nice to be on that wicket (Gurunanak college) and trying to score some runs from Maharashtra," Shaw said.
The 25-year-old said that he does not mind starting from scratch to revive his career after the downfalls. "I have seen many ups and downs in my life. I have been up there, I have been down there, I have come back up there. Everything is possible, I feel. I am very confident in myself, my work ethics. I hope that this season will go really well for me as well as for my team."
When asked what has been the biggest lesson for him in the recent past and if there was anything he wanted to change, Shaw was quick to respond: "I don't want to change anything, it wasn't anything like that," he said, before adding, "I just went back to basics, doing things that I used to do in U-19 days, which got me to the Indian team. Just doing all that stuff back again, practicing more, gym, running, it's small things. Obviously, it's not that big of a deal because I've been doing these things since the age of 12-13. I am just trying to be myself and not really trying to be on social media. Those kinds of distractions, I really don't like. Nowadays, social media and all that stuff, it's quite bad, I would say. So, I don't really use social media. Mentally, it's kind of peaceful when I'm not using it. And I think the lesson, what I feel is, it's always, I've never lost. It's always about learning for me. Like I said before, I'm confident enough in myself, what I am. And obviously, my family has been the biggest support in my tough times. Hopefully, I'll get back there (Indian team) soon."
Shaw felt that looking too far ahead did not work for him and now, he is trying to stay in the present. "Whatever I have in my schedule, when I'm playing a match or when I'm not playing matches, I'm focusing day by day. I don't want to see what happens after a month or two days. I try to be in the present. I'm that kind of a person right now," said Shaw. "My coach is Prashant Shetty with whom I've been working with and my trainers and my dietitians and everyone. So, there's a lot of support behind me," he added.
On the fact that other players did not keep in touch during his tough times, Shaw said it is not new for him. "I mean, it's fine. I don't want anyone's sympathy. I've seen this before as well. I've got my family support. And my friends who were there with me when I was not really well, mentally as well. So, it's okay. Obviously, people are busy doing their work. And they have their family as well. So, it didn't bother me at all. Because I had my dad, my family at my place. I was chilling with them and then I was practicing. I was in that zone where I'm doing everything alone. And it was really good for me. It was working for me,'' he said.
On Tuesday, Shaw played a compact innings, initially almost scoring at run-a-ball. Later, he toned down his game a bit and was able to pace his innings well, This was in stark contrast to the times he used to play aggressively. "Shot selection, I feel it depended on the scoreboard. Obviously, we were four wickets down in 70. We had a good opening partnership but when the wickets were falling, I had to be patient enough to take the game away from them (Chattisgarh), which I was trying my best. The wicket was obviously good for spinners, it is turning, bouncing and a lot of patches on the wicket. I tried my best to be over there and try to put some runs on the board," he signed off.