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India's legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has come out in support of out-of-favour Indian opener Prithvi Shaw who was recently dropped from Mumbai's Ranji Trophy 2024-25 squad due to fitness issues. Shaw has been asked to work with Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) trainers to get back in shape as reportedly he has 35 percent of body fat. Gavaskar feels that the appearance of the player should not matter. It should be decided on the basis of whether a batter can bat the whole day or a bowler can bowl 20 overs.
Gavaskar took Sarfaraz Khan’s example who does not look the fittest in the team but scored a century against New Zealand in Bengaluru Test. The cricketer-turned-commentator also asked how many players have scored 379 like Shaw in first-class cricket.
"Speaking of domestic matches, defending Ranji Trophy champions Mumbai have dropped Prithvi Shaw from their team that is currently in Tripura. There have been mixed reports about his omission from the Ranji team. If it's about his attitude, approach, and discipline, then it’s understandable, but hopefully, it has nothing to do with his weight, as one report seems to have suggested. That report suggested that he had 35 percent more body fat,” the 75-year-old wrote in his column for Mid-Day.
"We have seen in the previous Test in Bengaluru how another player Sarfaraz Khan, whose weight and shape have also been discussed in the public domain, played a scintillating innings of 150, showing that it is not the shape or the size of your waist that determines cricket fitness. It's whether you can score 150-plus runs and that too bat for a whole day or bowl 20-plus overs in a day. That should be the only criteria of a player’s fitness. By the way, how many players with zero percent or minimal body fat have scored 379 like Prithvi Shaw? I rest my case about fitness," he added.
Shaw takes a break after rough patch
Shaw scored 59 runs from four innings in ongoing Ranji Trophy season before getting dropped. Earlier, he scored 76 in the second innings of Irani Trophy. He wasn't impressive for Northants in County Cricket scoring 48 runs from three innings before flying back to India.
After facing the snub, the Under-19 World Cup 2018-winning captain announced on Instagram that he is taking a break.
