After his successful sojourn in New Zealand, where Indian Under-19 clinched the World Cup earlier this month, Prithvi Shaw is back playing first-class and List A matches with senior teammates.
Mumbai’s batting prodigy has already made an exceptional start to his first-class career having made five centuries in nine games.
In the four group stage games of the Vijay Hazare trophy in Chennai, he made two List A fifties, batting at three. But the Mumbai teenager prefers opening the innings. This he revealed during a product launch in Mumbai, The Times of India reported.
“When you open the batting, you have to read the pitch first up and try to understand the situation. But, at No. 3 you know what is happening out there. It makes things a little simple when it comes to reading the game,” he said.
Opening the innings in the Under-19 World Cup, Shaw, in five innings, made 261 runs at 65.25.
The transition from the junior level to the senior stage, albeit in a domestic tournament, Shaw found it easy.
“Well, it wasn’t very different. I came back from the World Cup and then started playing for Mumbai again. My game was the same because even in New Zealand we played the One-day format. We have qualified for the knock-outs and are heading to Delhi for the quarterfinals.”
“[My teammates] congratulated me [for the World Cup win]. We had a team dinner and I had to treat them. So obviously I had to shell out some money (laughs)! It was nice,” he said.
Shaw added that he’s looking forward to play with the Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League, which begins from April 7.
“It’s going to be a good experience for one-two months. The team has a lot of international players, the coach himself (Ricky Ponting and Pravin Amre). So, it’s going to be fun.”