Dubai: It’s not often that a specialist batsman wows his colleagues when he shows off his alternative skills, with the ball.
But 20-year-old Prithvi Shaw, the baby of the Delhi Capitals who opens the innings with the talented Shikhar Dhawan, surprised one and all the ICC Cricket Academy’s nets when he picked up the ball to confound the batsmen as Delhi trained ahead of Indian Premier League 13 in the UAE.
Shaw does not have a reputation as a bowler, but by what he did during practice on Monday, he could well be drafted in as a ‘surprise’ weapon when the team representing the India capital begin their campaign in the IPL, which starts on September 19 in the UAE.
Shaw, who only made a stunning international debut in October 2018 where he became the second-youngest Indian after Sachin Tendulkar to score a Test century and the youngest Indian to do so on Test debut, was seen in what the Capitals’ social media team cleverly described as ‘leaked footage from an alternative universe’, bowling loopy leg-breaks to the specialist batsmen which more often then not had them caught in the deep.
Occasionally an off-break bowler, Shaw exhibited effective technique and skill with his leg-breaks that sure to be an important discussion at the next team meetings.
In his primary role with the bat, Shaw has complied close to 600 runs from 25 matches and scored over 2,000 runs in first-class cricket.
He has no notable record with the ball, but this year’s IPL could see him make his mark as a match-winning all-rounder.
Delhi are coached by former Australia captain Ricky Ponting and are skippered by Shreyas Iyer. The team also boasts star such as Ravichandran Ashwin, Ajinkya Rahane, Shimron Hetmyer, Kagiso Rabada and Ishant Sharma.
However, Delhi are yet to win an IPL title, with a third-place finish in 2019 being their best performance.
IPL 2020 begins on September 19 with the final slated for November 10 and Delhi take on Kings XI Punjab in their first match on September 20.
The IPL is being played in the UAE due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India.
