Prithvi Shaw faces demotion after ‘fitness, discipline’ issues; asked to play in Police Shield

Now, Shaw has been asked to play in the Police Shield Invitational Tournament. He will lead the Mumbai Colts team. For the uninitiated, the competition involves two-day matches at various venues around Mumbai.

Earlier, an MCA official, speaking to news agency PTI, raised fitness and discipline issues. Recently, the youngster who made his debut for India in 2018 also underperformed with the bat in the recently concluded Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, which was won by Mumbai under the leadership of Shreyas Iyer.

Shaw did not even reach the 200-run mark in the entire tournament, and his only substantial knock came during the quarter-final against Vidarbha.

“In the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, we were playing with 10 fielders as we were forced to hide Prithvi Shaw. The ball would pass near him, and he would barely be able to get to it,” a MCA official told PTI.

“Even while batting, we could see he was troubled reaching to the ball. His fitness, discipline and attitude are poor and it is pretty simple, there cannot be different rules for different players,” the official added.

Shaw goes unsold in IPL mega auction

Recently, Shaw also went unsold in the Indian Premier League (IPL) mega auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Earlier, Shaw was even snubbed from Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy squad for the first phase. It was then that he was seen working on his fitness, leading to his selection in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy squad.

Mumbai captain Shreyas Iyer had also said that Shaw needs to get his work ethics right and if he can do so, then sky will be the limit for him.

“He needs to get his work ethics right, if he does, the sky’s the limit for him. We cannot babysit anyone. At the end of the day, it’s his responsibility to figure out things for himself,” Shreyas Iyer said after Mumbai’s Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy win.

MCA Colts squad: Prithvi Shaw (c), Vishal Dabholkar, Aryan Pawar, Siddid Tiwari, Aarush Patankar, Siddharth Akre, Arjun Jaiswal, Aryan Chauhan, Vedprakash Jaiswal, Ankit Vishwakarma, Atharva Kardile, Akshat Redkar, Yash Jadhav, Manthan Korgaonkar, Pratham Salaskar, Ratnesh Chaudhary, Harsh Mendon, Anjdeep Lad.