Former India cricketer Mohammed Kaif minced no words in blasting Prithvi Shaw after the latter found no bidders in the two-day IPL 2025 mega auction that culminated in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Monday. The former Delhi Capitals opener, who was once touted as the next big thing in Indian cricket, went under the hammer on the second day of auction, but unfortunately no franchise raised the paddle for the Mumbai batter, even at a base price of ₹75 lakh.
Kaif, who worked with Shaw at Delhi Capitals previously, opined that the youngster should be embarrassed with himself. The 43-year-old narrated that no one have got the chances which Shaw got at Delhi Capitals under the coaching of Ricky Ponting.
"Delhi has backed Prithvi Shaw a lot. DC had hoped that he is a powerplay player and would hit 6 boundaries in one over. And he did that too. He hit Shivam Mavi for 6 fours in an over. He had a lot of potential and DC backed him to the hilt. We always thought that if Shaw manages to score, we will win. And we gave him a lot of chances," Kaif told on Jio Cinema.
Shaw rose into the scene when he scored a hundred on Test debut against West Indies at home. However, his India career only lasted five Tests, six ODIs and a lone T20I before going out of contention.
In IPL, the 25-year-old made made his debut in 2018 with Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) and has been with the franchise until the previous season. He was also named among the breakout starts in men's cricket by the International Cricket Council.
Kaif revealed how the coaches would ponder over Shaw's selection in the playing XI every night before the match. "There were meetings in the night where we would sit and ponder if Prithvi should play or not because he has been failing.
"So at night we would decide that Prithvi would not be in the playing XI, and then later on the day of the match, we would change our decision - that, no he will because maybe if he goes big, we would win," said Kaif.
Kaif, who played in the IPL for a few franchises cited Sarfaraz Khan's example for Shaw for a comeback into the Indian team. "Prithvi got a lot of chances and teams have now finally moved on, and it is a matter of embarrassment that he did not get a bid for ₹75 lakh.
"Maybe now, he finally goes back to basics. Someone like Sarfaraz Khan got into the national team by scoring lots and lots of runs," concluded the former India cricketer.
