 "First Sports: Prithvi Shaw's 'shameful' IPL snub latest blow for 'next Sachin'?")
Vaibhav Suryavanshi at only 13 landed a Rs 1.10 crore with the Indian Premier League (IPL) side Rajasthan Royals at the 2025 mega auction in Jeddah recently where India cricketer Prithvi Shaw failed to attract a single bid, even at a base price of Rs 75 lakh (88,000 USD) . Once touted as the ‘future Sachin Tendulkar,’ Shaw has played in 79 IPL matches, scoring close to 2000 runs (1892 runs) with a strike rate of around 150 somewhere along the way, though, even while playing the T20 league, the 25-year-old seems to have lost his way, which is why the Delhi Capitals franchise didn’t persist with him at the mega auction.
“There are so many players who don’t get so many opportunities, but he got a lot. Now the fact that no one bought him at the auction is shameful. He now has to go back to the drawing board. Score runs into domestic cricket and then get picked," former India batter Mohammed Kaif recently said.
Of course, the statement is loud enough to resonate with everyone. Prithvi Shaw for all that promise and flair did not do enough. Was not good enough to warrant any bids or any interest in getting him over to any of the franchises.
Kaif spoke about going back to domestic cricket, so let’s look at that as well. Through the 2023-24 Ranji Trophy season, that’s India’s domestic tournament, Shaw scored around 451 runs in six matches. He batted in nine innings with an average of 50, and twice he managed to go past that 50-run mark. Now he did put in the numbers this year, even scored three hundreds the previous season. But here’s the thing, the IPL snub was not the first blow Shaw had to deal with.
It started with Shaw losing his spot in the Indian side in 2021 followed by his domestic side Mumbai, just recently. They ran out of patience dealing with Shaw just a while back this year . The decision to drop him wasn’t just based on form. Disciplinary issues, including missing training sessions and being indisciplined, forced his exit. The off-field time became longer than the on-field drills were.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsRelying on skills alone to take him through became problematic. Today, cricketers need to be a complete package. To be picked in complex sides like an IPL franchise or even make it to a national side, you have to have multiple skills, those that make you match winners on the field, and the character that makes you a great team player. And it was clear Shaw had missed the bus when it came to all of that.
No wonder the people he captained in 2018 have left him behind.
Shubman Gill will now get $1.9 (Rs 16.5 crore) million and he’s captaining Gujarat Titans, a franchise that’s won the IPL. Abhishek Sharma and Riyan Parag, both his teammates, will earn $1.6 million (Rs 14 crore). And India star bowler Arshdeep Singh is set to bring in $2.1 million (Rs 18 crore) with the Punjab Kings franchise. All of these players have played alongside Prithvi Shaw, and while he is out of the Indian team, Gill and Arshdeep have cemented their spots in different formats for the country. This goes to show it is not enough to only hone or show skill sets that take you to some distance on the field, you also need a strong character, mental fortitude, and the right head on your shoulders, that’s a battle far tougher to combat and fight.
You can score 50s, and take five-wicket hauls, but all of that comes to not if you cannot be disciplined, not show character, stay in the lane, and stay focused.
Prithvi Shaw is probably going to be that example for youngsters to note the kind of path definitely not to take or go down. He did get the opportunities. He did have the chance to make it big. Cricket held up its end by giving him more than millions of this country can only dream of. But Shaw just did not hold up his end of the deal.
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