Prithvi Shaw Eyes Redemption: Puts Past Mistakes Aside For Fresh Chapter With Delhi Capitals

What does a prodigy do when things suddenly stop working out? In sport, this is called a lean patch, where some fade and others fight. Prithvi Shaw chose to fight, and it wasn’t just about working hard, but about working “three times” harder. Back in blue with Delhi Capitals for the 2026 Indian Premier League season, he is looking to climb his way back into India’s blue.

“I started working three times harder than I used to,” Shaw said on the sidelines of a Delhi Capitals practice session at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday, March 25, a line that neatly sums up a phase that forced him to confront both expectation and reality.

The early promise, an Under-19 World Cup-winning captain and a Test centurion on debut, had placed him on a fast track. The last couple of years, however, slowed everything down.

“I didn't do well in the last couple of years, IPL didn’t go very well for me. Not really bad, not really good. But obviously, people do expect a lot, especially when it comes to an opening batter,” he admitted, reflecting on a period where returns didn’t match the hype.

That dip soon turned into a slide. Shaw was dropped from Delhi Capitals’ playing XI midway through the 2024 Indian Premier League season and went unsold at the 2025 auction. Around the same time, during the 2024–25 domestic campaign, he lost his place in Mumbai, with concerns around fitness and discipline surfacing repeatedly.

“The reason that was given to me was not valid according to me. So even at that time, I smiled and left. I said, it’s okay,” Shaw said, choosing not to dwell on the decision even as scrutiny around him intensified.

He chose instead to step away from the noise. “Whatever is written or spoken out there, they know only half of it. My family knows me, my friends know in and out about me,” he said, adding that constant exposure to both praise and criticism at a young age pushed him to disconnect.

“Whenever good or bad things used to come, I was very young, every time you see it, you come back for more. So I stopped seeing those things.”

The break from the IPL last year became less about absence and more about reset. “I enjoyed my life a lot. I went to a couple of destinations to refresh my mind a little, and then I came back,” Shaw said.

“The same routine, I practised, worked hard. Whether it was training or batting, whatever I used to do, I started doing three times as much. I can’t say I took a step back, it was just a needed break so that I could strengthen myself mentally.”

That reset also brought a shift in mindset. Targets and long-term pressure have taken a back seat. “I used to set targets, but when you don’t achieve them, it affects you. I like to be in the present,” he said, while also acknowledging, “I am a human being; I will make mistakes, it’s okay, move ahead. That’s history.”

Now 26, Shaw returns to Delhi Capitals with a different equation. Picked up at his base price after going unsold the previous year, he no longer walks into the XI and instead competes for a spot at the top of the order, likely alongside KL Rahul.

There are no guarantees, only opportunity, and a comeback he is working towards.

“If I don’t think of a comeback, it will be wrong. Because I am playing for that. Obviously, who wouldn’t want to play for India? That’s why I am working hard,” he said.

But what changed? When asked if it was meditation, yoga, or any other form of spirituality, Shaw smiled and said, “I am engaged now,” before breaking into a giggle.

For Shaw, this isn’t just another IPL season. It’s a reset point, a chance to rebuild without the noise, without the labels.

“This (cricket) is my passion, and no one can take this away from me, no matter how much people write about me,” he said.

Delhi Capitals will begin their IPL 2026 campaign against Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow on April 1. For Shaw, that match will mark the first real test of this new phase.