All eyes will be on the 18 year old debutant Prithvi Shaw for the 1st Test at Rajkot starting from tommorrow. He got a three figure score on his Ranji debut, and it would be a fairy tale start if he gets one in Rajkot during the weekend. So what is so special about Prithvi Shaw. First, he is only 18 years old and I can not remember India going with a younger Test opener in so many years. His reputation precedes him and cricket aficionados want to see him bat at the highest level, albeit in home conditions. He may not draw the crowds yet, but the selectors will surely be watching him closely in pursuit of a long term solution in absence of a waning Murali Vijay. Vijay, for all the runs he is scoring now in England playing for Essex, might well be back for the Australia tour, but the selectors will like to pick an understudy. Between Prithvi Shaw and Mayank Agarwal, i.e. if he gets a chance. There is KL Rahul too, eager to impress, and Shikhar Dhawan has experience, and against short pitched bowling in Australia could be very handy. The race for the Test Opener's slot is getting hotter.
Coming back to the present, what is so special about Prithvi Shaw. The world came to know about a young 13 year old Prithvi Shaw the opener, when he scored 546 off only 330 balls for Rizvi Springfield school in 2013. Remember, Mumbai school cricket is very competitive and if you score that many runs anywhere on earth, you are bound to grab eyeballs and media eulogy. Immediate comparison was with Sachin Tendulkar, and the famous 664 run partnership Sachin had with another prodigy Vinod Kambli. That was also school cricket, and Sachin was 16 then. Prithvi was selected to play Ranji for Mumbai at the age of 16, and debuted in the semi finals against Tamilnadu, scoring a hard fought but fluent century and winning the match. At 17, he broke Sachin's record again, this time by scoring a debut in Duleep Trophy by becoming the youngest to do so. India later won the Under-19 World Cup under his captaincy earlier this year in February, and although Manjot Kalra's century (101*) overshadowed every one else's contributions in the Finals against the Aussie-19 side, Prithvi Shaw had a good tournament with the bat with an average in excess of 65 and a tally of 261 runs. Then came the IPL contract for Delhi Daredevils, where he started playing only when Delhi had started to slid from contention. Nevertheless, he was noticed even in the premier 20-20 tournament.
What impresses me most is his strokeplay on the off side, a la Tendulkarish at times, but his compact technique would impress the textbook Sanjay Manjrekar as well. I am guessing, he might open his Test career with a century, the likelihood is very strong. Getting caught behind is something he needs to watch out for against the likes of Shannon Gabriel and Jason Holder. Seeing the new ball is crucial. He might have nerves, but I can imagine KL Rahul would score briskly, as he usually does and will take the pressure off the young debutant. Rajkot should be a benign batting pitch. I would be surprised if it is anything else than that (maybe drier from the 3rd day). Perfect recipe for the downfall of visiting Test sides.
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