Mumbai captain Shreyas Iyer has stated that his teammate Prithvi Shaw needs to “improve his work ethic”. Shaw has come under criticism recently over his fitness issues and there are fears he is wasting his natural talent.
Shaw, who did not sign a contract in the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) auction, was looking to respond with big performances in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) tournament, but that did not happen. Apart from his 49 against Vidarbha in the quarter-final, the opener struggled to leave a mark.
“I think Prithvi is a God-given player. The amount of talent he has, no one else has it. He just needs to improve his work ethic. He needs to clean up his work ethic. If he can do that, there is no limit for him,” Shreyas said after leading Mumbai to the SMAT title on Sunday.
There is no place for coddling in the world of professional sports, Shreyas said. “I can’t force him (to change his ways). He played so much cricket. Everyone gave him their comments. After all, his job is to solve problems on his own. We can’t have anyone to babysit, right? Any professional playing at this level must know what they should be doing. He has done this in the past as well. He needs to focus. He needs to sit down, put on his thinking cap and think it through for himself. He will get the answers himself. Nobody can force him to do anything,” Shreyas said.
