Sri Lanka vs India 2021: Irfan Pathan Backs Prithvi Shaw To Emulate His Whirlwind Domestic Form In Sri Lanka

Former Indian seam-bowling all-rounder Irfan Pathan has heaped high praise on talented opener, Prithvi Shaw, for the manner in which he had staged his redemption after a difficult last year.

Prithvi Shaw endured a tough couple of years during the 2019 and 2020 seasons. The young opener recently revealed that he battled with depression after getting banned for consuming a banned cough syrup that led to him getting banned by the BCCI.

When he did return, Shaw’s technical glitches were fully exploited by the fast bowlers in the IPL and in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia, post which he was dumped out of the set-up.

A determined Prithvi Shaw went back to the drawing board, spent some time with Pravin Amre to sort out his technical issues, and since then he had been in blazing form.

Shaw broke all sorts of records in the 2021 Vijay Hazare 50-over tournament as he smashed a barely believable 827 runs in 8 matches at a strike rate of 138.29 with 4 tons.

He continued his stellar form in the IPL as he smashed as many as 308 runs in 8 innings at a sensational strike rate of 166.48

And, Irfan Pathan has now backed Shaw to emulate his form in the upcoming ODI and T20I rubber in Sri Lanka.

“He will be able to capitalize on the performance he gained in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. So, what he did, he went out to domestic cricket after his poor run last year in the IPL. He scored tons of runs in domestic cricket and then he tried to replicate the same in the IPL – he was able to do it consistently as well,” said Irfan Pathan on Star Sports.

Pathan is also impressed with the technical adjustments that Prithvi made after he got dropped from the Test set-up post the series in Australia.

”The way he did it – with the right technique – he did some adjustment in the technique. His bat is coming close to his body – which is fantastic – he is very, very still, that helps, and if he is scoring in domestic cricket then he can score in international cricket as well. So, that IPL performance confidence will definitely boost his performance in Sri Lanka as well,” stated Pathan.​

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