Prithvi Shaw, the former captain of India’s Under-19 team, was omitted from Mumbai’s squad for the forthcoming Ranji Trophy match against Tripura on Monday (October 21). The Ajinkya Rahane-led unit which has registered a nine-wicket win over Maharashtra in the second Elite Group A match held in Mumbai on Monday, will head to Agartala for the third match of the current season, which commences on 26th October.
Monday Indian Express published a report, in which stated that Shaw, who scored a Test debut century in 2018 against West Indies, India’s youngest batter to achieve the feat, was left out by Mumbai’s selection committee due to unfit.
He has been more or less imposed two weeks of fitness training by MCA trainers on the selectors. As regards the recent reports, the Mumbai team management conveyed to the MCA that Shaw has an excess body fat percentage of thirty-five and hence will undergo strict conditioning before being able to play for the team any time soon.
“He has been dropped and needs to go back to training and shed some body weight to be considered for selection,” was in official words expressed to indian express from MCA.
Meanwhile while selectors also take the disciplinary track record of an individual into consideration cricbuzz has reported that the selection committee of Muhammad Ali Cricket Academy which comprises of Sanjay Patil Chairman, Ravi Thaker, Jeetendra Thackeray, Kiran Powar and Vikrant Yeligeti decided that since Shaw has been an indisciplined player he should be rested for one match at least.
The selectors and team management think that the exclusion may help Shaw in addressing his on and off attendance during practices and net sessions. The 25-year-old cricketer has been said to avoid serious net practices and come with inconsistent frequency. He has been avoiding sessions – at times missing two of them for each one he attends.
In the words of a senior MCA official, that decision to rest Shaw from the team was reached by both the selectors and the team management, including the captain and coach.
Shaw was a part of the Mumbai team in the initial two match of Ranji Trophy 2024-25 but his batting performance was below par. He made only 7 and 12 runs respectively against Baroda and 1 & 39 not out against Maharashtra.
In the recent past right-handed opening batter also inclusive of the Mumbai team had been involved in the transition phase which won the Irani Cup 2024 match played against Rest of India in Lucknow. He scored 4 runs and 76 runs in that single match.
Shaw will be replaced in the squad by Akhil Herwadkar, a left-handed opener, who has played 41 matches in the Ranji Trophy. He has however been absent since 2022 when he last played for Chhattisgarh.
Shaw, along with Suryakumar Yadav, will miss the Tripura match, as will spin bowling all-rounder Tanush Kotian.
As per ESPNCricinfo, Surya was unavailable for the match owing to personal commitments, while Kotian was omitted after he was included in the India A squad for the upcoming Australia A series. To replace him, 28-year-old Kothari, a left-arm spinner who last played for Mumbai in December 2018, was included in the squad.
Squad: Ajinkya Rahane (C), Ayush Mhatre, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Akhil Herwadkar, Shreyas Iyer, Siddhesh Lad, Suryansh Shedge, Hardik Tamore (WK), Siddhant Addhatrao (WK), Shams Mulani, Karsh Kothari, Himanshu Singh, Shardul Thakur, Mohit Avasthi, Mohammad Juned Khan, Royston Dias.
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