Your Initial Movements Are Now Perfect - Greg Chappell Messages Prithvi Shaw Lauding The Opener's Technique

Prithvi Shaw has found a new fan of his batting in Greg Chappell. The former Australia captain was heavily impressed by the opener’s “perfect” technique during his 24-ball 43-run blasts against Sri Lanka in the first ODI.

Greg Chappell was so impressed by the youngster that he sent him a text message post his knock, praising him on his movements and body positions.

After being dropped from the Test side, Shaw worked with coach Pravin Amre on his technique. He has been phenomenal since then: he hammered 827 runs at an average of 165.4 in the Vijay Hazare Trophy; then followed up with 308 runs in 8 innings in the IPL 2021 while striking at 166.49.

Greg Chappell wrote in the message (a copy is with TOI) to Shaw:

“Hi Prithvi! I saw the highlights of your innings against Sri Lanka. It was fantastic. Your initial movements are now perfect, which give you better access to more deliveries, especially full balls, and allows you to get into better positions with a much better bat swing.

 “Your position at ball release is perfect. If you have a look at the side on replay after you have hit a cover drive for four when on 22 it will show the at-release position very well. That is perfect and shows that you are expecting the full ball which of course is the early release point.

“That allows you to attack more of the full balls that are the dangerous deliveries. Once you start punishing those, most bowlers will pull their length back which will give you more scoring shots from the back foot,” he added.

It looks really good: Greg Chappell

Confirming his message to Shaw to TOI, Greg Chappell continued to wax lyrical for the 21-year-old opener. He said that Shaw looks “really good” and gets in “perfect” shape at the ball release point.

“He has obviously done some work on his mind and his early movements. It looks really good. Have a look at the highlights. The side on replay of his cover drive when on 22 is the perfect illustration of the ideal position at release. Every good player gets into this position at ball release,” the former Australian skipper told TOI.

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