IPL 2021: If we can get the best out of him, Shaw could be a superstar, says Ponting

Going through a lean patch in the 13th edition of the Indian Premier League, Prithvi Shaw's poor run continued into the Test series against Australia and he was finally dropped from the Indian team.

But Shaw's struggle came to an end when he took on the bowlers in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. He became the first player to register more than 800 runs in a single edition of the tournament last month and will be looking to carry forward the momentum in the 14th edition of the IPL for Delhi Capitals.

Former Australia skipper and DC head coach Ricky Ponting has revealed an interesting theory which Shaw followed during the 2020 edition in UAE.

"I've had some really interesting chats with him through last year's IPL, just trying to break him down, trying to find out exactly what was the right way to coach him and how I was going to get the best out of him," cricket.com.au quoted Ponting as saying.

"But he had an interesting theory on his batting last year -- when he's not scoring runs, he won't bat, and when he is scoring runs, he wants to keep batting all the time," he further said.

"He had four or five games where he made under 10 and I'm telling him, 'We have to go to the nets and work out (what's wrong)', and he looked me in the eye and said, 'No, I'm not batting today'," Ponting added.

With skipper Shreyas Iyer ruled out of the entire IPL 2021, Shaw's coming back to form is one of the positive that Delhi Capitals will be banking upon ahead of the start of the cash-rich league.

Ponting hopes Shaw has changed his theories as the opener will be a vital cog in the DC batting line-up. "He might have changed. I know he's done a lot of work over the last few months, that theory that he had might have changed, and hopefully it has, because if we can get the best out of him, he could be a superstar player," said Ponting.

"If we can get him to take that form that he's just shown into the IPL, it just makes the balance on our Delhi Capital side so good," he added.

Delhi Capitals will begin their IPL 2021 campaign against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on April 10.

( With inputs from ANI )