On The Field He Is Like A Boss, Off The Field He Is Like A Friend - Prithvi Shaw On Coach Ricky Ponting

Delhi Capitals opener, Prithvi Shaw says that the “Boss”, referring to head coach Ricky Ponting, is a hard master on the field, but away from it, he is a friendly person. Under Ricky Ponting’s coaching, Delhi reached the IPL final for the first time last season but was blown away by the dominant Mumbai Indians.

Revering the Australian’s famous pep talks before and after the game, well taped by the franchise in the past couple of seasons, to motivate the players. Prithvi Shaw reckons they should be playing the song Chak De India from Shah Rukh Khan’s movie, where he plays the role of coach of the Indian Women’s Hockey Team, and leads them to the World Cup.

“The boss is back. He is a very nice person. On the field, he is like a boss, off the field he is like a friend. I think he is a very nice person. Let’s see how it goes (this year),” Prithvi Shaw said in a video uploaded by the franchise.

“Absolutely, I think when Ricky sir speaks, it should be played in the background. Shah Rukh Khan’s song,” he added.

Prithvi Shaw won’t bat in the nets when he is not scoring runs – Ricky Ponting

Ahead of the IPL 2021, Ricky Ponting revealed a strange habit or mindset of Prithvi Shaw. The youngster was having an underwhelming season last year – 8 single-figure scores in 13 innings before he was eventually dropped. Despite that, as the coach reveals, he wouldn’t bat in the nets!

Ricky Ponting says that he was perplexed by the right-hander’s theory as he refused to practice in the nets when he is not scoring runs. However, Shaw has turned his fortunes in a record-breaking Vijay Hazare season and is set to take on the world in IPL 2021. The Capitals commence their campaign against Chennai Super Kings in Mumbai.

“He had an interesting theory on his batting last year. When he’s not scoring runs, he won’t bat, and when he is scoring runs, he wants to keep batting all the time. He had four or five games where he made under ten and I’m telling him, ‘We have to go to the nets and work out [what’s wrong]’, and he looked me in the eye and said, ‘No, I’m not batting today’. I couldn’t really work that out,” the World Cup-winning skipper told cricket.com.au.

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