‘It is difficult to fight luck at times’ – Aakash Chopra sympathises with injured Prithvi Shaw

Prithvi Shaw and Aakash Chopra. (Photo Source: Twitter)

Prithvi Shaw had a magnificent start to his international career. After leading India’s  Under-19 team to World Cup glory, the Mumbai batter scored a swashbuckling century in his Test debut. Fans and experts touted him as the next big thing in Indian cricket. However, prolonged phases of indifferent form and fitness issues have meant that the talented batter is struggling to make his way back into the national team.

After a horrendous showing in the Indian Premier League season, Prithvi went to play for Northamptonshire in the One Day Cup competition. He looked good in the first couple of games but couldn’t convert his starts into something substantial. However, in his third game, the 23-year-old wreaked havoc as he scored a record-shattering 244 in just 153 balls against Somerset. He followed it up with another century in the next game against Durham. It seemed that the youngster was making a much-awaited resurgence until a knee injury in the Durham game ruled him out of the competition.

Aakash Chopra felt that Prithvi was just beginning to turn his fortunes with consistent scores but luck didn’t do him a favour as he is returning home to recover from the injury.

“It seemed like Prithvi Shaw had turned a corner. He had gone to play county cricket and was trying to do well there. He batted extremely well but now he has got a knee injury. When everything was going fine, he was scoring runs, he injured his knee and now he will be heading home,” said Chopra on his YouTube channel.

“He is still young and has seen the highest of highs and lowest of lows at such a young age. He has opened for the Indian team, scored a century on debut as well, and after that, he has also been made to sit out in franchise cricket. He has seen everything. We had great expectations from Prithvi Shaw. It is difficult to fight luck at times,” Chopra added.

Shaw ended his tenure in England as the highest run-getter in the tournament

Prithvi Shaw amassed 429 runs in just four matches with scores of 34, 26, 244, and 125*. The youngster finished with a mind-boggling average of 143 and a strike rate of 152.67. There will be other players who will get past Prithvi’s tally of 429 by the time the tournament concludes.

However, the small but impactful contribution of the right-handed batter will be remembered for some time.