Similar stocky build? Check. Similar technique? Check. Hundred on debut in Ranji, Duleep and Irani trophies? Check, check and never mind, let’s make up for the last one with a century on Test debut instead.
The newest Indian entry in the Test arena, Prithvi Shaw, has been long hailed as the next Sachin Tendulkar due to these many similarities. But let’s just not get ahead of ourselves shall we?
After all, the youngster is hardly a day into his international career.
While I do believe Shaw has burst onto the international scene spectacularly, I’ve had reason to believe that he’s more similar to another U-19 World Cup-winning captain of recent yore rather than the master blaster.
I’m talking about Aiden Markram, South Africa’s latest batting prodigy. Markram similarly debuted for the Proteas right after an underwhelming tour of England, where the South Africans lost every Test but one, similar to India’s fate recently.
And again, like Shaw, Markram had a chance to debut on that tour, but was instead saved to be exposed on the safer shores of home first. Thus, instead of being thrown to the sharks, Markram made a comfortable start against rather sedate Bangladesh and Zimbabwean attacks, filling his boots in with buckets of runs.
Aiden Markram of South Africa (AP Photo/Halden Krog)
This eventually proved to be wise, as it helped him gain confidence as a Test batsman, which later helped him in the much more challenging India and Australia series.
Despite not making many runs in the demanding Indian series, Markram backed himself to become the highest run scorer in the following series as SA came back from the dead to win 3-1 after being 0-1 down.
Now again, regardless of a horrific time at the hands of the Sri Lankan spinners away, SA are able to still persist with him knowing that he has proven himself before which also in turn gives him the confidence to overturn his form in the next series.
This is what I believe India has followed smartly with Shaw.
Prithvi Shaw has had a stellar year, from top scoring for his team while captaining them to the under-19 cup, to smashing runs at the domestic level against one and all, no matter who he faced.
He showed no nerves in the IPL, making a fantastic entry following which he scored ton after ton on the A tour to England.
His rise through the ranks recently has been nothing short of a dream, but nevertheless rightly deserved.
He has proven himself on every platform, against pace, swing and spin. But when was the right time to now introduce him onto the international scene?
Prior to the final Test of the lengthy and draining English tour, India were 3-1 down, and having lost the series, it was touted to be the best time by many pundits and fans alike to introduce Shaw. But just like how the Proteas handled Markram, the Indian team management decided to hold back Shaw for the easier home series against the West Indies.
He has proven their decision by flamboyantly bashing a stroke-filled hundred, taking advantage of the under staffed West Indian attack.
This could be a masterstroke in the long run for India. Shaw, is after all, still 18, and has a long, long way ahead of him.
Introducing him too early in their haste might’ve resulted in him gaining scars too deep for him to recover from, and hence spoilt his career.
By allowing him to first settle into the Tests by facing a very mellow attack, India have sought to increase Shaw’s confidence before letting him face the much much tougher Australian pacers on their home soil.
Pat Cummins, Mitch Starc and Josh Hazlewood are tough proponents to face anywhere, let alone in Australia itself.
After all, they thrashed the English (yes, the same team India lost 4-1 to) 4-0 just last year.
This isn’t even including their most experienced bowler, the much improved offie Nathan Lyon who’s fast becoming a world class bowler worthy of his position as the bowler with the second highest wickets for an Australian spinner after the legendary Shane Warne.
Indian cricketer Prithvi Shaw (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)
Let’s not start hailing Shaw as the next Tendulkar or Virender Sehwag or whomever, for after all, this innings is still against a very underwhelming West Indian attack, and that too at home.
If it were against the in-form West Indian pace attack which blasted apart Sri Lanka and Bangladesh at home recently, at least it’d be a bit more decent and telling of his worth.
While it is nevertheless an impressive beginning, Shaw has to prove his worth against the much tougher attacks on much more challenging pitches to be rightly praised as the next superstar of India.
He has been saved from a baptism of fire that prior Indian legends have previously faced, such as Gavaskar in West Indies, Tendulkar in Pakistan, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid in England or Sehwag in South Africa, which they all returned from admirably.
If Shaw handles the Australian attack half as well and comes out unscathed at the end of the tour, then let’s start fawning over him.
After all, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma made similar stunning debut centuries at home against weak attacks and where are they now?
Out of the squad. So until then, let’s reserve our judgement and just relish his attractive stroke play for now.
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