Once touted as the player who possess the same talent as the greats Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Virender Sehwag, Prithvi Shaw saw his career hit an all-new low in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auction. The opening batter didn’t receive a single bid in the auction on Monday despite keeping his base price at a meagre INR 75 lakh. Shaw remains a player of high potential but disciplinary issues seem to have taken a massive toll on him, sending his cricketing career on a downward spiral. As Shaw went unsold in the auction, former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif showed him the cruel reality of his current status.
Kaif, who also worked with Shaw as part of the coaching staff at Delhi Capitals, revealed how the franchise did everything it could to back the opening batter despite his repeated failures. But, Shaw failed to return the favour with the bat.
“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,” Mohammed Kaif said on Jio Cinema during the IPL auction.
“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,” Kaif further narrated.
Mohammad Kaif reaction to Prithvi Shaw Unsold in IPL Mega Auction.#IPLAuction #IPLAuctiononJioStar#IPLauctions2025 #IPL2025pic.twitter.com/PASKGrXxPU
— K.Uday (@udayvardhan_k) November 25, 2024
Kaif also feels that Shaw should be embarrassed to have not received any bid at a base price of INR 75 lakh. The road ahead, for the top-order batter, is to work hard and deliver in the domestic spectrum.
“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 Rs 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,” the former India cricketer asserted.
Shaw made his IPL debut in 2018 after being roped in by the Delhi Capitals. However, the 2025 season is set to see him miss out on the T20 league for the first time in his career.
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