Back in the IPL after a year, the Delhi Capitals batter seems calmer, more focused, mentally stronger. He says he has learnt from the excesses of the past, which led to the quick crumbling of a once-promising career.MUMBAI: Wearing the Delhi Capitals jersey at the Ferozeshah Kotla makes Prithvi Shaw feel most at home. Ahead of the IPL season, it’s clear the once-promising batter from Mumbai has shed a few kilograms. His thought process too seems to have acquired a fresh outlook. ‘Axed’ from the IPL last year, he says the break did him a world of good.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!A flashy engagement ring on his finger seems emblematic of the change.“I went to a couple of places to refresh my mind. It (the IPL snub) was a good break for me. I’ve enjoyed my life a lot. I can’t say that I took a step back,” Prithvi said about going unsold last season.“The break allowed me to strengthen myself mentally. When I came back, it was the same routine. I trained and worked hard. Whatever I used to do earlier, I started doing it three times more,” he said before the Delhi Capitals got busy with their intra-squad practice match here on Wednesday evening.
It wasn’t just the IPL axe. Shaw was compelled to move from Mumbai to Maharashtra after the selectors dropped him in the previous season. For a cricket association which had hyped him as a prodigy since he was 13, the axe must have felt like a punch in the gut.“When I was dropped from the Mumbai team for a year, I felt the reason given to me was not a valid one. Even then I just smiled and left. I didn’t speak to the selectors or the president of the association. A lot of offers from other states started coming my way but I chose Maharashtra because it was closer to Mumbai,” he said.Gossip and unwanted headlines have followed Prithvi for a while. He has seen the glitzy highs of cricketing fame and also endured much embarrassment off the field. Now, at 26, will he be able to turn a different corner?“I didn’t write anything about myself. The media did,” he said of all the early hype about his talent. “I’m a human being. I will make mistakes. It’s been many years. I must have made some mistakes in my life,” he stated.As his career started to unravel around four years ago, incessant controversies started to take a toll. Shaw says he has fallen back on a tight circle of associates to be at peace with himself.“Whatever is written outside, people know only the half of it. My family and friends know me. I have kept only as many friends in my life as my fingers. I only train with my childhood coach. I don’t reach out to anyone. If anybody wants to reach out to me, I don’t mind. I was very young, obviously. Whenever there were good or bad things on social media and in newspapers, it started to affect me. Now, I have stopped seeing those things. Now, I believe in myself,” he said.“I know where I come from and how hard I have worked to reach here. Humans make mistakes but that’s history. I feel I am very happy mentally. This (cricket) is my passion. No one can take this away from me. I think sometimes we take ourselves too seriously,” he said with a smile.So is he still nurturing comeback plans? “It will be wrong if I say I’m not thinking about a comeback. I’m playing for that. Who doesn’t want to play for India?” As he was going back to the dressing room for the practice match, Prithvi was asked how he calms his mind. “Nothing. No rituals. No yoga or meditation. Just the engagement ring,” he said, smiling.
