The second-highest Ranji Trophy score ever was scored by Prithvi Shaw. The opener started the second day of Mumbai’s Group B encounter against Assam in an alarming style, blasting 139 runs off 99 balls before being out for 379. He had an overnight total of 240.
But Shaw has now climbed to No. 2 on both of those lists. Shaw passed Swapnil Gugale (351*), Cheteshwar Pujara (352), VVS Laxman (353), Samit Gohel (359*), Vijay Merchant (359*), MV Sridhar (366), and Sanjay Manjrekar on Wednesday to become the eighth hitter to reach 350 in a Ranji inning (377).
He was sent out for lbw by the legspinner Riyan Parag in what turned out to be the final over before lunch, just as he appeared about to soar beyond 400 and beyond.
Shaw dominated each of the three partnerships he was a part of, scoring 75 out of the 123 runs he put on with Musheer Khan for the first wicket, 42 out of the 74 runs he put on with Armaan Jaffer for the second wicket, and 262 out of the 401 runs he put on with Mumbai captain Ajinkya Rahane for the third wicket.
Shaw’s bad run of play came to a stop with this century, which may have helped him regain consideration for an India berth after starting the Ranji season with only one fifty in his first seven innings. Shaw last represented India on a limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka in July 2021.
He has participated in five Tests, six ODIs, and one T20I. At the conclusion of the first day, Shaw spoke with Sportstar on the difficulties of controlling expectations and handling criticism. I now understand that scoring runs makes you feel on top of the world, he remarked.
“However, when you don’t succeed, others will start to pursue you. When you consistently score, there are a lot of expectations, but when you unexpectedly go out after three or four innings, people start to wonder, “Yaar, yeh hai, Woh hai [people start doubting you].”
Each of those matters. Simply put, I’m making an effort to adhere to those principles and get as much alone time as I can. I block off external noise, whether it comes from social media or other platforms. I make an effort to stay away from them, or maybe I’ll just delegate management of social media activity.
Because of my brand obligations, I am unable to completely avoid social media, so you will ultimately see what is being said or written. But I’m still making an effort to drown out the noise as much as I can.
You shouldn’t worry too much about it because if you start reading too much into things, you’ll start to impact yourself. People are talking about you and will keep doing so even after ten years.