Asked to bat at No.3 for Mumbai, Prithvi Shaw says he 'prefers to open'

Having been an opener for India Under-19 and Mumbai in Ranji Trophy, the ICC U-19 World Cup-winning captain Prithvi Shaw has played a couple of matches for his state team at No. 3 in the Vijay Hazare Trophy limited-overs tournament, Group C, in Chennai.

Shaw played four matches in Chennai soon after returning from New Zealand with the junior World Cup and scored 52 against Rajasthan and 53 against Goa at No. 3, coming behind Akhil Herwadkar and Jay Bista, while he scored 9 against Tamil Nadu and 31 against Andhra as an opener.

Though, as quite often happens that the No. 3 gets to take strike even before the No. 2 does, there is still a huge difference between walking out to open the batting and walking out at the fall of the first wicket.

Shaw said here on Thursday that he preferred to open the batting. “Opening the batting is a bit different. As an opener, you have to read the situation, the pitch conditions yourself. When you bat at No. 3, you sit in the dressing room and watch how the pitch behaves when the openers are out there in the middle. It is simple to read the game while opening and facing the first ball. I prefer to open,” Shaw said at the launch of protein calculator by nutritional supplements Protinex.

The victorious captain admitted that he had to shell out some money from his pocket to treat his Mumbai team-mates for the win. Asked if there was any special gesture from the state team towards him for leading the team to the junior World Cup title, Shaw said: “Nothing special. The team congratulated me. We had a team dinner. I had to treat them and take out some money from my pocked. But, it was nice,” he said with a smile.

Twelve days after defeating Australia by eight wickets in the ICC U-19 World Cup final in Mount Maunganui, Shaw was still cherishing the journey that led to that triumphant moment and learning from chief coach Rahul Dravid, who was more like a father figure for the teenaged cricketers.

“The last two years have been a really good experience, working with Rahul sir. With his enormous experience at the international level and himself having been on several tours including many trips to New Zealand, we often asked him questions about the weather, the pitches there. Rahul sir shared all his New Zealand experiences with us. These small small things helped us win the World Cup. It was enjoyable,” Shaw said.

He admitted that nothing much has changed about his game after the World Cup. “I came back from the World Cup and started playing for Mumbai again, in Vijay Hazare Trophy. The game is the same. Mumbai qualified for the quarterfinal and we are heading to Delhi (for February 21 fixture),” Shaw said.

Having been bid for Rs 1.20 crore by Delh Daredevils at last month's IPL auctions, the 18-year-old right-handed batsman was looking forward to playing in the annual T20 extravaganza starting on April 7.

“It is going to be a good experience of one-two months of IPL. I get to ask a lot of questions on the game to Ricky Ponting sir and Pravin Amre sir. It is going to be fun.”