‘Haven’t seen him since 2017’: Former coach Prithvi Shaw on what went wrong with the U19 World Cup winner

He was once called the “next big thing” in Indian cricket. Prithvi ShawOver the past few years, his career has experienced a sharp decline. The man who became the youngest Indian Test centurion on debut in 2018 is not even a regular player in the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team now. After being released by Delhi Capitals ahead of the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction, Shaw remained unsold at the event despite maintaining the base price of INR 75 lakh. While his attitude towards training and fitness is believed to be one of the major factors in his downfall, many are wondering why the talented opening batter went down the path he did.

In an interview, Shaw’s former coach Jwala Singh, who also captained the current opening sensation Indian team, spoke. Yashasvi Jaiswal tried to shed some light on this topic in the past. During a conversation on Shubhankar Mishra’s podcast, Jwala explained that he has not met Shaw since the latter won the Under-19 World Cup in January 2018.

“Prithvi came to me in 2015 and was with me for three years. And when he came, he had not played in a Mumbai under-16 match and his father asked me to guide him. Then the following year he played for the under-19s. Cooch Behar Trophy and scored a lot in the qualifying matches. And I worked very hard on it. He was talented from the very beginning. I won’t give him full credit because he had a lot of coaches working for him, but at the time it was just me.

“I was excited when he played in the Under-19 World Cup because he was my first student to do so. Before leaving for the Under-19 World Cup, he celebrated his birthday with me. But after that I did not see him; it was 2017, and we are in 2024, he did not come to me,” he said.

When it comes to the biggest flaw in Shaw’s approach to the game, Jwala believes the player lacks the “work ethic” required to sustain in the top echelon of cricket. In comparison, Jwala stated that Yashasvi Jaiswal has demonstrated excellent work ethic, which is the reason for his rapid rise in the game.

“I think the process we call work ethic, so I think if you’re talented, talent is just a seed; to turn it into a tree, consistency is very important along the way, and this sequence depends on your lifestyle, your work. ethics and discipline, so I think consistency is not in his nature. You can make a great start, which he did, but to stay at the top in international cricket you need to constantly improve your game.

“Even Sachin Tendulkar Constantly improved his game, fine-tuned his game and worked on his physical fitness and mental toughness. So, I feel that a player only goes astray if he moves away from the process. You won’t back down if your process and work ethic are good, so I believe players fail because of this. As for Yashasvi, his work ethic is excellent; he really works hard and knows what to do. This is the main difference,” he explained.