OPINION
Follow UsHardik Pandya, who led Gujarat Titans to an IPL title in their inaugural season, has been rewarded with a captaincy debut for India in the two-match T20I series against Ireland. Rahul Tripathi’s consistent performance in IPL also came to fruition with a maiden call-up in India colours.
Amidst the happiness of these players, there is one player’s omission that remains a mystery. Prithvi Shaw has been sidelined once again.
His last international appearance was in July 2021 against Sri Lanka. When India’s second-string team toured the island nation for three ODIs and as many T20Is in 2021, Shaw displayed a glimpse of his power in the ODIs. He scored 105 runs in three innings at a strike rate of 125. However, after making his T20I debut in the first match of the series, Shaw went into isolation as he was in close contact with two COVID-struck players and missed the last two T20Is.
The biggest question around his omission is, why? It is not that he hasn’t been performing well. One of the reasons may be his fitness, but, in the 2022 edition of the IPL, Shaw was pretty agile in the field. Just to prove this fact, he had 100 percent catching efficiency (4 out of 4), and had saved close to 10 runs.
On his primary skill, Shaw stands apart from all of his national peers.
Intent merchant like no other
The destructive ability of Shaw at the start of the innings is now common knowledge. In IPL since 2021, Shaw has scored over 500 runs at an average of 43.85 and a strike rate of 162.9. He hits a boundary every 3.6 balls. This is as good as it comes for an opener.
Among batters who have faced 100+ balls in this phase in the aforementioned time in IPL, only Jonny Bairstow is ahead of him in terms of strike rate (169.2) and balls/boundary ratio (3.4). Just to emphasize more, in all T20s since 2021, among batters who have faced 300+ balls in this phase, Shaw is one among the five batters who have an average of over 40 and a strike rate in excess of 150.
What makes him one of a kind is his ability to get going from ball one. Shaw has a strike rate of 161.3 in his first 20 balls in IPL since 2021. Among players batting in top-5, who have scored 200+ runs in their first 20 balls, only Liam Livingstone (164.4) has a better strike rate than him. But none of the batters have a better balls/boundary ratio than Shaw (3.7). In fact, he is the only one to have a balls/boundary ratio of under 4.
If intent is what India are looking for, Shaw has that in abundance.
With established openers in the main team, Shaw’s opportunities are fewer. Currently, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul are at the top of the pecking order, followed by Ishan Kishan and Ruturaj Gaikwad. Interestingly, when India toured Sri Lanka in 2021, Shaw was the first-choice opener while Gaikwad was his backup. Now, the tables have turned. Gaikwad is preferred and Shaw is not even in contention for the spot in a B-team.
Among all the preferred opening options, none are even close to Shaw’s striking ability. In T20s since 2021, Shaw has struck at a strike rate of 162.4 in the powerplay. Whereas, none of the other four batters have a strike rate above 135. To add more, Shaw has struck a boundary every 3.6 balls, and the next best is Rohit with 4.8 balls/boundary.
The quantity over quality bias
The only problem that ails Shaw is his conversion. Though he averages 40.7 in the powerplay in T20s since 2021, it drops to 17.5 in the middle overs (7-15). But, out of the 13 times he has scored a 30+ score, he has achieved that mark inside the first six overs 9 times. And the strike rate did not drop below 165 even once.
There isn’t much difference between Sanju Samson and Shaw. Both of them are exquisite stroke makers, but hardly find themselves in the team. Both have suffered from an outdated approach of the selectors who have weighed runs by the quantity rather than the impact. Samson, after being ignored for the series against South Africa, is picked to represent India against Ireland. When will the opportunity arrive for Shaw?
