Prithvi Shaw, who has scored 1892 runs in 79 IPL matches played so far, remained unsold at the IPL 2025 mega auction, which was held in Jeddah on November 24 and 25.
Prithvi Shaw led India to the U-19 World Cup title win in January 2018, and that same year he was also picked by the Delhi Capitals in the IPL. The right-handed batter from Mumbai made his debut in the cash-rich league against Punjab Kings (formerly Kings XI Punjab) at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium and scored 22 runs from 10 balls. In the team’s next match against the Kolkata Knight Riders at the same venue, the right-handed batter, who was 18 back then, smacked 62 runs from just 44 balls. After playing that knock, he became a regular member of DC’s playing XI. He was even retained by the Delhi-based franchise ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction.
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Shaw played a total of 79 matches for DC in the IPL in the last seven seasons and went on to score 1892 runs. But he was not retained by the team ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction, and in the two-day auction that was held in Jeddah on November 24 and 25, he failed to find any buyer. After Shaw went unsold in the IPL 2025 mega auction, many former greats and experts of the game were shocked.
Shaw’s former coach, Jawala Singh, who worked with him for three years, during a recent interaction, explained the reason why Shaw failed to find any buyers.
According to him, Shaw is not consistent with his performances, and this played a big part.
“Prithvi came to me in 2015 and was with me for three years. And when he came, he had not played Mumbai Under-16 matches, and his father asked me to guide him. Then in next year, he played the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy and scored big in selection matches. And I worked very hard on him. He was talented from the beginning; I will not take full credit because many coaches have worked for him, but at that time it was only me. I was excited when he played in the Under-19 World Cup because he was my first student to do so. Before leaving for the Under-19 World Cup, he had celebrated his birthday with me. But after that, I have not seen him; that was 2017, we are in 2024; I have not seen him; he has not come to me,” he said.
Jwala compared the former India’s U-19 World Cup-winning team captain with his other student, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and explained why Jaiswal is touching the heights in his career and Shaw is struggling.
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“I think the process, which we call work ethic, so I feel if you are talented, talent is just a seed; to make it a tree, consistency is very important in that journey, and that consistency comes from your lifestyle, your work ethic, and discipline, so what I feel is that consistency is not with him. One can make a great start, which he did, but to stay at the top in international cricket, one has to improve his game all the time. Even Sachin Tendulkar refined his game consistently, fine-tuned his game, and worked on his fitness and mental toughness. So, I feel a player goes off track only if he gets away from the process. You will not fall back if your process and work ethic are fine, so I feel players fail because of that. As far as Yashasvi is concerned, his work ethic is superb; he really works hard, and he knows what to do. That is the main difference,” he added.
Jaiswal, who made his international debut for India in July last year during a Test match against the West Indies in Roseau, is in Australia these days with the Indian Test team. He scored 161 runs in the second innings of the first Test played between India and Australia at Optus Stadium in Perth. Jaiswal got the benefit of his super show with the bat in the ICC rankings as well as in the latest rankings released on Wednesday (November 27), he moved to No. 2 position.
