by NEW DELHI: Top batter Prithvi Shaw who was ruled out of the Mumbai squad who was in charge of the ongoing Ranji Trophy match against Tripura due to fitness and disciplinary issues, found some consoling words from none other than the legendary Sunil Gavaskar.
The right-handed opening batsman, who has represented India in five Tests, six ODIs and one T20I, seems to have encountered some difficulties. According to sources, the 24-year-old took part in the team’s training sessions irregularly and was also observed to be “slightly overweight”.
“Speaking of domestic matches, defending Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai have dropped Prithvi Shaw from their team currently playing in Tripura. There were mixed reports about his exit from the Ranji team. When it comes to his attitude, approach and discipline, that’s understandable, but hopefully it has nothing to do with his weight, as one report suggested he had 35 percent more body fat,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid -Day.
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Gavaskar also stressed that physical appearance such as weight or body shape should not be the primary measure of a player’s fitness in cricket. He cites examples of Sarfaraz Khan, who scored a brilliant 150 against New Zealand despite public criticism of his physique.
“We saw in the previous Test in Bengaluru how another player, Sarfaraz Khan, whose weight and form was also discussed publicly, played a brilliant 150 innings and showed that it doesn’t matter the shape or the size of your waist that determines cricket’s Fitness.
It’s about whether you can score more than 150 runs while batting for a whole day or whether you can bowl more than 20 overs in a day. That should be the only criterion for a player’s fitness. By the way, how many players with zero percent or minimal body fat scored 379 points like Prithvi Shaw? I maintain that it is about fitness,” Gavaskar added.
