Personality of the Day: Prithvi Shaw

Every generation has its share of people who do not sit back until the world eventually makes a room for them, they simply decide to walk in with a bat in their hand and grab their share of respect. 

Today’s Personality of the Day is an ode to one of those great cricketers who had an extraordinary life of raw talent, perseverance and insatiable desire to prove a point. This is the individual who didn’t take the road carved by others but blazed a trail with his sheer determination, and in the process he made himself known to the world.

He has turned adversity into challenge, and defeat into determination. Today we shine the limelight on Prithvi Shaw, the Mumbai cricketer who entered the world scene as a teenager and instantly took over the world of cricket.

Early Life and Education

Prithvi Uday Shaw was born on 9th November 1999 in Thane, Maharashtra. The burden of sacrifice and love accompanies his story throughout. His mother passed away when he was quite young. His father, Pankaj Shaw, a simple cloth businessman, had made it his mission in life to fuel his son’s cricket dream. 

Pankaj moved the family out of Dahanu and went to Mumbai and sent Prithvi to Rizvi Springfield High School, and made certain that it was cricket first always.

Prithvi’s talent soared loudly at an early age. As per ESPN, “Prithvi Shaw shot to prominence as a 14-year old when he scored 546 off 330 balls, an innings that contained 85 fours and five sixes, for his school Rizvi Springfield in the Harris Shield, an age-group cricket tournament in Mumbai in 2013. Shaw's innings was then the highest score in school cricket.”

READ| Personality of the Day: Virat Kohli

Cricket Career

Prithvi Shaw became the part of the U-19 squad that won the youth Asia Cup in Sri Lanka and after two months he went for his Ranji Trophy debut. 

At the age of 17, he became the youngest player to score a century on Duleep Trophy debut which was a record that was held by Sachin Tendulkar. 

During his U-19 tenure, Shaw joined the franchise cricket scene with Delhi Capitals (at the time, Delhi Daredevils) by making his introduction to the Indian Premier League in 2018 and immediately emerged as one of the most thrilling young openers of the league. 

At the young age of 18 years and 329 days, Prithvi Shaw first appeared in the Test against the West Indies in Rajkot in October 2018. He made a scoring record of 134-run in his debut according to ESPN. 

Challenges and Setbacks

The career of Prithvi Shaw has not been without shadow though. In 2019, he was slapped with a ban that kept him out of international cricket for a total of eight months and it was followed by Injuries. 

The ICC mentions: “Shaw, 19, will be ineligible for selection until 15 November, 2019 after it was found that he "inadvertently ingested a prohibited substance, which can commonly be found in cough syrups”

After a challenging tour to Australia in 2020-21, in which difficulties with pace beyond the off-stump became a persistent issue, he lost favour with the national selectors.

The criticism was quite loud and suspicions were looking real. But Shaw has always responded the only way he knows which is with his runs. He made a comeback to domestic cricket and went on a prolific run of five-digit scores in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and Ranji Trophy in recent years, including a wonderful 379 against Assam in 2023 as per ESPN data. 

Prithvi Shaw: Achievements

Shaw has a list of achievements, even when he was faced with many setbacks:

• Debut Test century against West Indies (2018).

• Winner of the Under-19 World Cup in 2018 with India where he led the team to victory in New Zealand. 

• Became the youngest cricket player to open in the history of IPL. 

• He was the youngest cricketer to score a century on his Duleep Trophy debut. 

Quotes by Prithvi Shaw

Here are some quotes by Prithvi Shaw: 

• “Frankly, this is what you dream about - to get picked for the Test team. That's why you work hard and give it your best day in and day out.”

• “It has been a difficult journey for me, which started where I used to live: in Virar. All credit to my dad, as he was the only one who took me everywhere. He used to take me to matches and practices, and they were all far away from my home in Virar.”

• “If you score a hundred in one game and then don't do much in the next three or four matches, then that hundred doesn't mean anything.”

• “Whatever games came my way, I tried to give my best, do whatever I could to win matches for the team, be it at the Ranji Trophy level, India A, IPL: this was always on my mind.”

• “I look to gain experience wherever I play.”

The story of Prithvi Shaw shows that he is a young man with the weight of great expectation on his shoulders and he has the talent to carry it. The story of his life shows the fact that genius is not always presented in a perfect, clean cut and smooth form, in some cases it comes raw, messy and spectacular.

READ| Personality of the Day: Sachin Tendulkar

For more sports related information, head over to Jagran Josh.