Prithvi Shaw slams career-best score at rapid pace

Prithvi Shaw smashed his career-best score in first-class cricket - 240 not out off 283 balls - on the first day of Mumbai's Ranji Trophy game against Assam in Guwahati.

The opener hit 33 fours and a six, adding 123 runs for the first wicket with Musheer Khan and an unbeaten 200 for the third with Ajinkya Rahane, as Mumbai went into stumps on 397 for 2. Shaw was severe on Roshan Alam, thumping the left-arm spinner for 76 runs at a run-a-ball.

This was Shaw's first hundred in this season of the Ranji Trophy. He came into the game with just 160 runs in his previous seven innings at an average of 22.85 and high score of 68.

Shaw has been omitted from various India squads in recent months. The 23-year-old last played for India in a T20I in July 2021, and has not been picked despite consistent scores in the domestic circuit. He was the second highest run-getter in this season's Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, with 332 runs at a strike rate of 181.42 and a highest score of 134 against Assam. He had a middling Vijay Hazare Trophy, scoring 217 runs in seven innings, but averages in excess of 50 in List A cricket.

Shaw recently found support from former India batter Gautam Gambhir, who put the onus on coaches and selectors to guide him and keep him in their plans.

"Someone like a Prithvi Shaw, the kind of start he had to his international career and the kind of talent he has, you back a player on talent," Gambhir said. "Yes, you have to look at the upbringing as well - where he comes from and the challenges he's had as well. It makes even more sense for the management and the selectors to keep him around the mix, and help him get on the right track.

"If he's willing to put in the hard yards - and I know how destructive he can be; if he can go on to win games for you, whether it's trainers, management, head coach or chairman of selectors, all these guys should take the onus to try and get these young boys to walk on the right path."