He is his own enemy: MCA official lashes out at Prithvi Shaw

Prithvi Shaw was axed from Mumbai's 16-member squad, and the batter took to social media to express his displeasure. 

"Tell me, God, what more do I have to see..if 65 innings, 3399 runs at an average of 55.7 with a strike rate of 126, I'm not good enough...but I will keep my faith in you and hopefully people believe in me still..cause I will come back for sure..OM SAI RAM,” he wrote on his Instagram story.

A Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) official has responded to that by saying that Shaw's fitness and lack of discipline were the main reasons behind him not being picked. "No one is Shaw's enemy. He is his own enemy," an MCA official told PTI.

"The ball would pass near him, and he would barely make an effort to reach it," the official said, addressing Shaw's fitness.

"Even while batting, he struggled to reach the ball. His fitness, discipline, and attitude are lacking, and we cannot have different rules for different players."

Shaw, who recently participated in Mumbai's Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) winning campaign, apparently missed plenty of training sessions and would often return to his hotel room at odd hours. This frustrated some of the senior team members, who voiced their displeasure.

Mumbai captain Shreyas Iyer, too, was blunt in his response when asked about Shaw. "He needs to get his work ethic right. If he does, the sky's the limit for him," Iyer said. 

"We can't babysit anyone. At the end of the day, it’s his responsibility to figure things out for himself."

Shaw burst into the limelight when he scored a century on his Test debut at the age of 18. Since then, he has played just four more Tests for India, the last of which was in 2020. Even limited-overs opportunities have been very few, having not played in the format since 2021. In a further blow, he was not picked by any Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise during the mega auction last month.