Sunil Gavaskar defends Prithvi Shaw’s omission from Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy XI, arguing that weight should not overshadow a player’s talent and performance.
Shaw’s Current Struggles and Performance
Prithvi Shaw’s recent career has faced significant challenges, especially after returning from a lengthy injury layoff.Â
In his last 15 innings since August, he has managed only one score above fifty. These struggles have not only affected his form but have also raised questions about his fitness level.
With reports suggesting that he has around 35% body fat, critics are questioning his suitability for professional cricket.
Despite his past achievements, including a century on his Test debut, Shaw’s current performance raises concerns about his future in the game.
Gavaskar’s Perspective on Weight and Performance
In his recent column, Sunil Gavaskar argued that a player’s weight should not be the sole criterion for selection, especially for a talent like Shaw.
“Speaking of domestic matches, defending Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai have dropped Prithvi Shaw from their team that is currently in Tripura. There have been mixed reports about his omission from the Ranji team. If it’s about his attitude, approach and discipline, then it’s understandable, but hopefully, it has nothing to do with his weight, as one report seems to have suggested. That report suggested that he had 35 per cent more body fat,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-Day.
He pointed out that Sarfaraz Khan, another player with fitness discussions surrounding him, recently excelled by scoring 150 runs in a Test match.
“We have seen in the previous Test in Bengaluru how another player Sarfaraz Khan, whose weight and shape have also been discussed in the public domain, played a scintillating innings of 150, showing that it is not the shape or the size of your waist that determines cricket fitness. It’s whether you can score 150-plus runs and that too bat for a whole day or bowl 20-plus overs in a day. That should be the only criteria of a player’s fitness. By the way, how many players with zero per cent or minimal body fat have scored 379 like Prithvi Shaw? I rest my case about fitness,” added Gavaskar.
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