Shaw has glimpses of Sachin, Lara, Sehwag in him: Shastri
Head coach of the Indian cricket team, Ravi Shastri while praising the young star debutant, compared him with two successful batsmen of the modern era; teenage sensation Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Virender Sehwag
After a maiden century in Test and then Man of the Series, Prithvi Shaw made a big name for himself in the cricketing world. Head coach of the Indian cricket team, Ravi Shastri while praising the young star debutant, compared him with two successful batsmen of the modern era; teenage sensation Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Virender Sehwag.
"He (Shaw) is born to play cricket. He's been playing since the age of eight in the maidans of Mumbai. You can see all that hard work showing. He's a spectator's delight. There's a bit of Sachin there, a bit of Viru in him and when he walks there's a bit of Lara as well," Shastri said.
"If he can keep his head on his shoulders and keep the work ethic, he has a bright future," Shastri added.
The 18-year-old won the hearts of all the cricketing fans around the world by his batting performance in the two-match Test series against the West Indies. Shaw, who has already made several records in Tests, was chosen the Man of the Series for his excellent batting.
With this award, he became the fourth Indian and 10th player of the world to become the Man of the Series in a first Test series.
Shastri also praised pacer Umesh Yadav, who returned a match haul of 10 wickets to become only the third Indian pacer to achieve the feat after Kapil Dev and Javagal Srinath.
"It can be a frustrating profession when you sit on the bench like Umesh for four Tests. Only 11 can play. He got his opportunity here and I'm very happy for him. It's been done only four times (ten-for for a pacer in India)," the 56-year-old opined.
"What this will do is make him believe that he belongs. He can say now that he wants his place. That's given us a headache. He was on target," Shastri said of the pacer.
Shastri also lauded 20-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, while backing K L Rahul to regain his touch.
"I think (Rahul) will be fine. He's a world-class player. Sometimes he tries too hard. He works really hard on his game. Pant is another name. He got his opportunity, he grabbed it, now he has consolidated it," the coach added.