All is not well in DC? Prithvi Shaw breaks silence on being benched with 'I'm not a kid' statement

Delhi Capitals’ outcast India opening batsman Prithvi Shaw staged his much-awaited return to the Indian Premier League with an emphatic knock against CSK last night. It was the right-hand batter’s first appearance of the 2024 IPL season and he chose a very aggressive way to announce his comeback. Following the match, he expressed his gratefulness for the treatment he has received from DC team management but he later slammed them by saying that he should not be treated as a kid.

When Prithvi Shaw was first bought by the Delhi Capitals, the franchise were Delhi Daredevils and the batter was just 19 years of age. He came into the franchise fresh after leading the Indian U-19 team towards glory in the ICC U-19 50-over World Cup in New Zealand under the head coaching of the current head coach of the senior team, Rahul Dravid. Since Shaw was just a teenager, the DC management which saw the inclusion of Ricky Ponting as head coach from that season, treated him like their own kid.

Ricky Ponting and Co. have constantly backed Prithvi Shaw through thick and thin. Even when he was not in the best of forms, DC have given him plenty of game time and opportunities to get over his lean patches. Last season, Shaw had endured one of his toughest seasons yet, scoring only 106 runs from 8 matches. Ahead of this year’s auction, it was being said that he could be released but DC went another season of trusting him.

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Prithvi Shaw says he has become a senior player

Prithvi Shaw highlighted the way he has always been supported by the North-Indian franchise’s team management and claimed that he has been looked after like a small kid. But it also appears that Shaw is tired of that treatment because, in his next statement, he stated that he is no more a kid and that he has become a senior player.

“This is my seventh year with the Delhi Capitals franchise and they have always welcomed me very nicely. They have looked after me like a kid. I’m not a kid anymore; I have become a senior player now since it’s my 7th year,” Shaw told reporters at the ACA-VDCA stadium last night.

“But this year too they knew about my injury. And those five months how difficult it was to come back to the field and get into that zone again. But I was really supported by the owners, support staff, Ricky [Ponting] sir, Sourav [Ganguly] sir, Praveen [Amre] sir,” added Shaw.

“When I didn’t get to play the first two games, they were telling me that you will get an opportunity. We are just trying to do some new stuff and to be honest, I was really happy with it. I just knew that once the opportunity came, I’ll do my best.”

On his return, the batter scored 43 off 27 balls at a strike rate of 159.26 and his quickfire knock included 4 fours and 3 sixes. Shaw paired alongside Aussie opener David Warner to stand for a 93-run partnership for the first wicket and the former had lost his wicket 10 runs after the fall of his left-handed partner who departed after scoring 52 off 35.

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Prithvi Shaw sheds light on the expectations on his shoulders

Prithvi Shaw then spoke about the expectations that people have on him, every time he walks into bat during IPL 2024. He claimed that people expect him to smash every single ball he faces and that even if it is a challenging job, the 24-year-old doesn’t like to take much pressure.

“I don’t really know about this year but obviously during the IPL, they expect me to whack the ball, whack every ball. I don’t take it as pressure or anything. I take it as a challenge and try to do my best,” Shaw concluded.