Just By Playing Like Them, One Cannot Become Virender Sehwag Or Viv Richards - Salman Butt Says Prithvi Shaw Needs To Produce Results To Be Compared To Former Players

Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt opined that it isn’t reasonable to compare Prithvi Shaw with the likes of Virender Sehwag and Viv Richards just because Shaw plays in a similar fashion to those players.

Salman Butt stated that Shaw needs to put up more significant, match-winning performances than just innings of a few flashes of his ability.

There is no doubt that Shaw’s marauder batting intent is akin to Sehwag or Richards. However, as Salman Butt pointed out, the diminutive opener needs to take his game levels up before he could be spoken in the same breath as those legendary batsmen.

“Some fans feel it is wrong to ask Prithvi Shaw to alter his game. They point out to Virender Sehwag and Viv Richards, who succeeded by playing their own brand of cricket.

“When you start producing results, you can stake a claim to a particular style of play being yours. You have to score big runs and hundreds to justify a different kind of mindset while batting,” Salman Butt said in his YouTube video.

“Look at the gap between Richards and Sehwag’s careers. It took nearly 10-15 years after Richards for the cricket world to see a player with a similar attacking mindset in Sehwag. Richards scored 180 in England at a time when 225 was considered a good ODI total.

Sehwag scored two triple hundreds in Test cricket and averaged over 50 for most of his career. Just by playing like them, one cannot become a Sehwag or a Richards. You have to put up that kind of a performance.”

To give himself stability, the youngster has to convert starts: Salman Butt

In the recently concluded ODI series versus Sri Lanka, Shaw got out on scores of 43, 13, and 49. The former Pakistani opener stated that the 21-year-old should learn to convert his starts into big scores that would put his side in a commanding position for a longer period of time in the game.

He asserted that after getting a start, a batsman should be able to modify his game according to the situation and that even great players used to alter their natural game regarding the position in the match.

“To give himself stability, a youngster has to convert starts. Talking of Prithvi Shaw, I saw him playing one-dayers for India in New Zealand as well. He used to hit three-four cracking boundaries and then get out.

“So, when something is not letting you continue and stopping you from making a big score, you need to modify it. You first need to score runs and then shape up in your own style.

“He has all the strokes in his repertoire, but Prithvi Shaw is playing too many shots too early. He needs to take into consideration factors like time, pace, wicket and opposition and manage his innings accordingly. Even the great Sachin Tendulkar paced his innings as per the situation,” the 36-year-old concluded.

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