Sachin Tendulkar tells Prithvi Shaw 'wapas track pe aaja'; Master Blaster refuses to give up: 'I still believe in you'

The year was 2014. A 15-year-old Prithvi Shaw was bursting onto the scene. Two years into his teenage years, Shaw was scoring runs left, right and centre. Whichever tournament he played, Shaw set it on fire, to the extent that at such a young age, he was branded as the 'next Sachin Tendulkar' of India. Audacious, right? We'd think that too. But honestly, the child prodigy that he was, coming from humble beginnings, Shaw's potential put him on the road to greatness. In 2013, Shaw made headlines when he smashed 546 in a Harris Shield game, and four years later, he hit a century on his Ranji Trophy debut. Sachin Tendulkar hasn't given up on Prithvi Shaw(Twitter)

And for the longest time, he was coming true to those expectations. At 18, Shaw, who led India to Under-19 World Cup win, a team which had Shubman Gill, Arshdeep Singh and Abhishek Sharma, all three of whom play for India. The same year, Shaw earned a call-up to the national team, and he took his promise even higher, scoring a century on Test debut against England. He even made the tour of Australia but following a freak injury in the practice match, Shaw was ruled out. Shaw's fortunes fluctuated, but he kept on returning to the Indian fold.

Despite his infamous ban due to the use of a cough syrup, Shaw remained on the selectors’ radar. Until something went terribly wrong last year. Shaw was dropped from Mumbai's Ranji Trophy team and went unsold in the IPL mega-auction. Once again, rumours of his indiscipline began to emerge. As Shaw admitted that his focus drifted away from cricket due to some bad company, very few people reached out to him, including the legendary Tendulkar. Tendulkar has been available for Shaw almost all the time. Having already share his valuable advice with him earlier, Shaw revealed that Sachin continues to stand by him, even in his dark phase.

"Sachin sir knows about my journey. Arjun and I have been friends since we were 8-9 years old. We’ve played together, grown up together. Sir was also there sometimes. I had a word with him a little while ago too. Hardly 2 month ago. He was practicing at the MIG. And I was there too. I spoke to him then too. When things go awry and you drift away, you need that mentor, who can light a spark into you. He still believes in me. He said 'Prithvi, I still believe in you, and I'll continue to do so'. Because he has seen me grow up. Even today, he tells me 'Sahi track pe aa ja, jaise pehle tha' (Come back on the same track as earlier). Everything is possible in the next 13-14 years. So he believes in me and that means a lot," Shaw told News24 in an interview.

Prithvi Shaw back to training hard

Shaw last played for India in July of 2021, but remained in the reckoning until January 2022, when he was named in the squad for New Zealand T20Is but didn't get to play a game. Shaw has since turned to domestic cricket. He scored 379 against Assam in a Ranji Trophy match and even started off well for Northamptonshire in August of 2023, blasting 244 and following it up with another century. But after that is when the wheels started to fall off. He recently played in the Mumbai T20 league but just had one good innings to show for his effort. Shaw isn't willing to give up, though, and is back to training hard. He has lost weight and promises to be back to the shape he was in in 2018.

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