‘Gavaskar will never make effort to talk to me...’: Sehwag's stunning revelation on Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill
Discussing the curious case of Prithvi Shaw amid the IPL 2023, Virender Sehwag recalled his lesser-known interaction with Sunil Gavaskar.
Legendary Indian opener Virender Sehwag recalled his lesser-known interaction with youngster Prithvi Shaw while discussing his bitter-sweet campaign in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). With the emergence of Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal, many believe that superstar Shaw has fallen behind the pecking order of upcoming openers in Indian cricket.
Once regarded as the next big thing in Indian cricket, Shaw was even dropped from the Delhi Capitals lineup after a string of low scores in the first half of IPL 2023. On Wednesday, the under-fire batter showed exactly why he is rated highly by smashing a quick-fire half-century in DC's impressive win over Shikhar Dhawan's Punjab Kings at Dharamsala. Shaw played a blistering knock of 54 off 38 balls to help DC beat PBKS in the IPL 2023.
Discussing the curious case of Shaw in the build-up to Delhi Capitals' match against Punjab Kings in the IPL 2023, former DC skipper Sehwag opened up about his interaction with the Indian opener. The former India batter also shared an interesting anecdote about meeting legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar during the 2003-2004 season.
"He (Prithvi Shaw) did an ad shoot with me. Shubman Gill was also there. None of them talked about cricket for once. We were there for 6 hours. If you want to talk to someone then you have to approach them. When I was new to the team, I wanted to talk to Sunny Bhai (Gavaskar), So I said to John Wright that 'I'm still a new player, I don't know whether Sunny Bhai will meet me or not', but you should organise that meeting. So Wright organised a dinner in 2003-04 for me and I also said that my (opening) partner Aakash Chopra will also come so that we can talk about batting. So he came and had dinner with us. So, you have to make that effort. Sunil Gavaskar won't make an effort to talk to Sehwag or Chopra. You have to request him," Sehwag told Cricbuzz.
While Sehwag used to be a walking nightmare for premier bowlers during his prime, ex-India opener Chopra was known for his classical batting style in the longest format of the game. Chopra and Sehwag enjoyed fruitful opening stands in the 2003-04 edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia. Talking about Shaw, ex-India skipper Sehwag also stressed the importance of tightening up the mental game to achieve desired results.
“He gave his input and we talked for a long. And we were rewarded for that conversation. But you have to put in that effort. Gavaskar will never make an effort to talk to Virender Sehwag or Aakash Chopra. So one has to make a request for that. If Shaw handed such a request so I'm sure someone would have...he is playing for Delhi, so if you wanted to talk, he should have handed a request to the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of DC. In cricket, no matter how much talented you are. If you are not mentally up, if you are not fit mentally or don't tune your mind. Then nothing can be done,” Sehwag added.