Ricky Ponting admits giving up on Prithvi Shaw during his stint with Delhi Capitals, explain reasons

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Former Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting has admitted that he gave up on Prithvi Shaw after the youngster repeatedly failed to do what was expected from him.

Prithvi Shaw, once considered as the next big thing in Indian cricket, had a stellar start to his international and IPL career. The 25-year-old made his India debut back in 2018 as an 18-year-old and smashed a hundred.

The Mumbai batter made his ODI debut in 2020 and T20I debut in 2021, but could not capitalise on the stellar start. His last match for India came back in July 2021, and in the IPL 2024, Prithvi Shaw even lost his place in the Delhi Capitals playing eleven.

"I mean to start with I don't like talking about individual players, but Prithvi shouldn't be an outlier. He should be someone that's in every team; the first pick in most teams with the skill that he's got. He's had a chance to represent India as a youngster, making a hundred on his Test debut," Ponting told Cricbuzz in an interview.

"And as you say, halfway through this year, we couldn't find a slot for him in our DC team. So that's disappointing for me as a coach not to be able to make certain players better and get the best out of them. But sometimes there's only so much you can give and so many times you can try," he added.

'Had to look for other players after failing to make Prithvi Shaw a better player'

Ponting said that he had numerous chats with the opener but could just not develop him into a better cricketer. However, he expressed hope that Prithvi Shaw would do justice to his talent one day.

"When you feel like you're not making players better and they're not doing what you need for the team, then you've got to look for other players that can do it for you. So that then comes back to the player. With him in particular I've had a lot of chats with him, a lot of conversations to try and make him a better cricketer," added Ponting.

"I mean, he's still a young man. And he's still a very talented young player. And hopefully one day the penny really drops for him and he works out what he needs to do to be the best cricketer that he can be."

It would be interesting to see if Prithvi Shaw is retained by Delhi Capitals ahead of the IPL 2025 season. Reports have emerged that captain Rishabh Pant and the DC management have already started planning for the next season.