On July 8, Saturday, Prithvi Shaw, the young Mumbai opener, talked about how he needs to back his aggressive style to get an India call-up in the near future. The 23-year-old categorically mentioned that he cannot bat in a defensive way like Cheteshwar Pujara while stating that the veteran can’t adopt his approach either.

While turning up for West Zone against East Zone in the first semi-final of the Duleep Trophy at the KSCA Cricket Ground in Alur, Prithvi Shaw managed to score a pair of 20s in helpful conditions for the fast bowlers. By virtue of the first-innings lead, West Zone managed to reach the final of the tournament, where they will play South Zone at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru from July 12 onwards.

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When asked about his batting approach in the helpful conditions, Prithvi Shaw said, “If things are not going my way, obviously I’ll try and not play how I’m supposed to play in those conditions. Personally, I feel, I don’t have to change my game. I have to just be a little smarter than what I am,” as  quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

The young Mumbai batter went on to take the example of Cheteshwar Pujara and how his defensive method is best suited to him, just like how the attacking method is best suited to Prithvi Shaw.

He was quoted as saying, “I feel whatever has brought me till here, I will stick to that method, be the same. If I change right now for something, for example, I can’t bat like (Cheteshwar) Pujara sir. He can’t bat like me. I just try to do what has brought me here, everything god has given me, like this aggressive batting. I don’t like to change that, be it T20 or any format. The mindset is the same across formats, obviously, I won’t go slashing if I shouldn’t in red-ball cricket, but my mindset is to be aggressive.”

Prithvi Shaw expects to be better as a player and a person than last year

After playing the Duleep Trophy final from July 12 onwards, Prithvi Shaw is expected to take part in the Deodhar Trophy, which will happen before his first-ever county stint with Northamptonshire in England. While looking forward to the future, the Indian international said that “I’m expecting to be better than what I was last year. I just want to be a step ahead, be a better version of myself as a good batter, as an athlete and as a good person.”