Former India U-19 captain Prithvi Shaw was dropped from Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy squad on Monday (October 21) for the upcoming match against Tripura. The Ajinkya Rahane-led side, which defeated Maharashtra by nine wickets in the second Elite Group A match played in Mumbai on Monday, will travel to Agartala for the third match of the ongoing season, which starts on October 26.
According to a report in Indian Express on Monday, Shaw, who became the youngest Indian batter to score a century on Test debut against the West Indies in 2018, was dropped by the Mumbai selection committee due to poor fitness.
He has been asked by selectors to follow two weeks of a fitness programme prepared by MCA trainers. As per the available information, Mumbai team management informed MCA that Shaw’s body contains 35 percent fat and he needs rigorous training before he gets back into the side.
“He has been dropped and needs to go back to training and shed some body weight to be considered for selection,” an MCA official was quoted as saying by Indian Express.
Meanwhile, Cricbuzz has reported that the MCA selection committee, which comprises Sanjay Patil (chairman), Ravi Thaker, Jeetendra Thackeray, Kiran Powar, and Vikrant Yeligeti, felt that Shaw, who has a history of disciplinary issues, should be dropped for at least one game.
The selectors and team management believe that the exclusion might serve as a lesson for Shaw, who apparently has been irregular to nets and practice sessions. The 25-year-old cricketer reportedly does not take net practice sessions seriously and attends them irregularly. He has been skipping sessions—sometimes missing two for every session he attends.
According to a senior MCA source, both the selectors and the team management, including the captain and coach, were on the same page in their decision to leave Shaw out of the squad.
Shaw played in the first two matches of the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 for Mumbai but was not able to do much with the bat. He scored 7 and 12 runs against Baroda and made 1 & 39 not out against Maharashtra.
The right-handed opening batter was also part of the Mumbai team that won the Irani Cup 2024 match against the Rest of India in Lucknow at the start of this month. In that one-off match, he scored 4 and 76 runs.
Shaw is replaced by left-handed opener Akhil Herwadkar, who has experience of playing in 41 Ranji matches. He, however, last played Ranji Trophy in 2022 for Chhattisgarh.
Apart from Shaw, Suryakumar Yadav and spin bowling all-rounder Tanush Kotian will also not play in the match against Tripura.
As per ESPNCricinfo, Surya was unavailable due to personal reasons, whereas Kotian was left out after he was named in the India A squad for the upcoming series against Australia A. In his place, 28-year-old left-arm spinner Karsh Kothari, whose previous appearance for Mumbai came in December 2018, was added to the squad.
Squad: Ajinkya Rahane (C), Ayush Mhatre, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Akhil Herwadkar, Shreyas Iyer, Siddhesh Lad, Suryansh Shedge, Hardik Tamore (WK), Siddhant Addhatrao (WK), Shams Mulani, Karsh Kothari, Himanshu Singh, Shardul Thakur, Mohit Avasthi, Mohammad Juned Khan, Royston Dias
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