Delhi Capitals' Cricket Director Sourav Ganguly opened up on why dashing opening batter Prithvi Shaw didn't feature during the franchise's opening match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season. The Delhi Capitals played their first match of the season against the Rajasthan Royals in which Mitchell Marsh opened the innings alongside David Warner. The Rishabh Pant-led team ended up losing the contest.
Ganguly said that since Warner and Marsh have done well as an opening duo for Australia and Shaw is also an opener, Delhi's think tank decided to opt for the overseas duo as the Indian batter is not suitable for the middle order.
"Prithvi Shaw is an opener. We decided to open with Marsh and Warner and Ricky Bhui is a middle-order batter. So they bat at different positions. So it's actually not Bhui for sure. It's a different opening combination, they opened for Australia and they have done well together. So we decided to do that," Ganguly told the press.
Ganguly on Shaw joining the camp late
Ganguly also spoke about Shaw's arrival to the Delhi camp later than the other Indian talents since the Mumbaikar was part of the Ranji Trophy. Ganguly also acknowledged Shaw's constant battle with injuries while applauding the youngster's performance in county cricket.
"To be honest, we did not get much of Prithvi Shaw in the camp. Unfortunately, he was injured for a long time. After he went to England for the county stint in Northamptonshire where he played exceptionally well and tore his ligament in the knee, we couldn't get him till February. After he came back to fitness, he played Ranji Trophy," Ganguly continued.
"I remember we set up a four-day training camp with him, but then, the NCA announced him fit and then he went on to play Ranji Trophy. You can't take anybody away from Ranji Trophy and put in an IPL camp. And then Mumbai won the tournament, and he played till the last day of the tournament. He played till 14th and then joined the camp. So I honestly didn't get Prithvi. But, got a lot of others, Khaleel, Abishek Porel, Ricky Bhui, Kumar Kushagra, Ishant Sharma, we got them together for a couple of times. We only had that much time to work with them," he added.
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