Ex-Pakistan star makes SHOCKING remarks on Vinod Kambli, mocks Prithvi Shaw
Two Mumbai cricketers have been hogging all the attention recently but unfortunately not for the right reasons. We are talking about Vinod Kambli and Prithvi Shaw – two cricketers with immense talent with the bat but that has been left unfulfilled so far.
Kambli’s tale is more tragic as the 52-year-old appears frail and acts as a cautionary tale for many cricketers. Shaw, on the other hand, has age on his side as he is only 25 years old but time is fast running out on this talented cricketer.
After being released by Delhi Capitals ahead of IPL 2025 mega auction, Shaw was available for a base price of Rs 75 lakh but found no buyers at the two-day event in Jeddah last month. Once dubbed as the ‘wonder boy’ of Indian cricket much like Kambli, Shaw has seen a sharp downfall in his fortunes and career graph in recent years and experts have blamed his off-field activities for his decline.
Plenty of former cricketers have spoken out in favour of Shaw and hope that the youngsters will be able to turn his fortunes around. Former Pakistan batter Basit Ali also joined in but made shocking remarks on Kambli and mocked Shaw by comparing him to the former Mumbai southpaw.
“Prithvi Shaw saab, apne aap ko sudharo (improve yourself). You are just 23-24 at the moment, my son’s age. Focus on cricket. Doosre Kambli mat bano. I feel pain because you are a cricketer. You are from our family. Improve yourself, my son. It does not matter if you don’t get picked at the auction. Believe in yourself. Get out there and perform. Hard work never goes in vain,” Basit said on his YouTube channel.
Shaw has been going through torrid times in his cricketing career. He was earlier dropped from the Mumbai Ranji team for being overweight and unfit but then returned for the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament recently.
However, he hasn’t set the SMAT 2025 on fire although his much senior teammates like Ajinkya Rahane and Shreyas Iyer have been doing well in the competition.
Shaw also had a really poor IPL 2024 earlier this year, where he scored only 198 runs in 8 matches at an average of 24.75.
Former England skipper Kevin Pietersen also recently asked Shaw to channelize his energies into getting super-fit and get off social media if he wants to once again savour the sweet taste of success.
“Some of the greatest sports stories are COMEBACK stories. If Prithvi Shaw has decent people around him who care about his long term success, they’d sit him down, tell him to get off social media & train his absolute backside off in getting super fit. It’ll get him back into the correct path where past success can return. Too talented to throw it all away. Love, KP!,” Pietersen, who was Shaw’s former teammate at Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals), had written on ‘X’.