The Indian cricket team has made a strong comeback in the second test match against Australia which is being played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Many cricket fans believed that it would be difficult for the Indian cricket team to deal with the Australian bowlers, especially because Virat Kohli is not a part of the squad but the Indian batsmen have risen to the challenge and shown that they are ready for tough tests.
Few changes were made in the Indian squad for the second test match including the opener Prithvi Shaw being replaced by Shubman Gill. The 21 years old Shaw is undoubtedly a talented batsman but for past some time, he has been out of form. He was not able to perform well in the IPL and in the first test match also, he performed miserably. In the first innings of the first test match, Prithvi Shaw got out on duck while in the second innings, he managed to score only 4 runs. The first test match was won by Australians by 8 wickets and what hurt the most was that the Indian team was all out for 36 runs in the second innings which is the lowest score of the Indian squad in test matches.
Prithvi Shaw got slammed heavily for his performance and even the former cricketers Sunil Gavaskar and Shane Warne questioned his technique and expressed doubt over him surviving at the international level for a long time.
Now the legendary former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has expressed his opinion over the problems faced by Prithvi Shaw while batting. While speaking in a video on his YouTube channel, Little Master states that in his opinion, Prithvi Shaw is having a problem with his backlift. He adds that his hands are going away and then he is coming down, this movement is going the scoop way rather than the pendulum which is straight. As per Sachin, the problem takes place when the ball zips through the surface.
Sachin Tendulkar goes on to say that it is not just about Prithvi Shaw but every batsman who is not in good touch and has that type of backlift. He further says that if a batsman is scooping but doesn’t get the timing right, he will certainly edge the ball; so if the timing is not right, the straight backlift will certainly help.
Sachin has also shed light on Shaw’s dismissal in the second innings of the first test match. He says that Prithvi’s footwork was not correct as he was caught on the move. According to Master Blaster, there were other batsmen as well who were caught in the same manner as they played late by a fraction. Sachin adds that this happens when a batter is thinking about a lot of things and the same happened with Prithvi as his foot was also in air when he got out. Sachin also states that if the batsman is not able to think properly, it will surely affect his footwork as lower body will not follow the instructions.
Great advice by the legend!