India vs West Indies: Sachin Tendulkar reveals Prithvi Shaw’s ‘biggest strength’

Prithvi Shaw made a perfect start to his Test career as the 18-year old scored a brilliant century on debut against West Indies in Rajkot. It was a special innings from the youngster as he became the youngest Indian cricketer to score a ton on debut and the innings earned him praise from experts and fans alike.

One of the biggest admirers of Shaw’s innings was the ‘Master Blaster’ Sachin Tendulkar and he said that considering the amount of talent Shaw possesses, the future looks bright for the debutant.

“I’m sure it must be extremely relieving that he’s been able to get a big score in his first outing,” Tendulkar told Times of India. “A big question mark always is ‘a guy has done well at the domestic level, now will he be able to do the same at the international level?’ However talented the guy is, there is always a question mark. And a century kind of seals it. The figure is magical. Everyone starts thinking differently. As far as I am concerned, the first hurdle that he was going to encounter is out of the way now. It cements your spot in the team and helps you announce to the world that you belong here,”

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“Whatever I have seen of him, he’s been a fast learner,” said the 45-year-old.

Shaw, an 18-year-old right-handed opener, reached his 100 in just 99 deliveries during a dominant 206-run second wicket stand with Cheteshwar Pujara, who made 86 in Rajkot.

“To me, being talented is one thing but what you do with that talent becomes more important. If you want to succeed at the international level you’ve got to be a fast learner. And Prithvi is a very good learner. When somebody has to perform and sustain at this level, and play cricket at different conditions across the world for a long time to come, adaptability becomes the critical factor. I feel he has the knack to adapt to different situations and conditions. To me, that is Prithvi’s biggest strength,” Sachin said.

Ever since making the historic 546 for Rizvi Springfield against St Francis D’Assisi in an inter-school match for the prestigious Harris Shield, Prithvi Shaw has been consistently compared to the legend Sachin Tendulkar. The reasons were quite obvious as both the cricketers’ career graphs followed a similar pattern - century on Ranji Trophy debut, another century on Duleep Trophy and finally young debutants for Team India. Sachin also went down memory lane and remembered the first time he saw Shaw in action.

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“We had spoken almost 10 years ago. Jagdish Chavan a friend of mine from MIG once asked me to take a look at Prithvi. He said ‘there’s this young kid who wants to meet you and it would be nice if you could have a look at him’. Prithvi wanted to discuss his game and he was very young at that time. So I had a look at him and at first glance, I told him (Chavan), this boy will end up playing for India. I remember telling him ‘you’re looking at a future India cricketer’. He said ‘are you sure?’ I said ‘mark my words, this guy will end up playing for India’. So, that was my very first impression of Prithvi,”

“At that age, the hand-eye coordination he had. The way he picked up the line and the length. It was really exceptional. At that age, no one can generate power. That comes with age. But technically how many guys are so correct. I could see that he had that natural talent, a gift and I felt not many guys have that,” he added.