Prithvi Shaw said his captain Virat Kohli tried his hand at Marathi, the teenager’s mother tongue, to make him feel comfortable in the hours leading up to his Test debut.
The 18-year-old Shaw, who earned a maiden Indian call-up midway into the England tour but did not get a game, has been preferred over Mayank Agarwal in the playing XI for the series opener against West Indies.
The first of the two Tests starts in Rajkot on Thursday.
“I think he is a really funny guy off the field. On the field, we all know he is very tough. I just spoke to him, he cracked some jokes, he was just trying to speak Marathi which was really funny,” Prithvi, a prolific scorer in domestic cricket, told bcci.tv.
In the domestic circuit, Shaw has already impressed, notching up fine hundreds on his Ranji and Duleep Trophy debuts, a few years after bursting onto the Mumbai scene with a bang. Shaw also led India to an U-19 World Cup triumph.
“I am feeling very good, a bit nervous, but when I came to the dressing room everyone like...over here there is no senior and junior Virat bhai and Ravi sir told me, and it felt really nice.
“I was very comfortable and everyone was very happy to see me in the dressing room. We just finished our first practice session which was very good. I really enjoyed my first day and it’s been going great.
“He (Virat) helped me out and made me feel comfortable. I have no plan (in nets) I just went with a blank mind. I don’t like to get out when I am batting in the nets. I had a throwdown session with Sanjay Bangar, everything was good in practice.
Shaw also spoke about what head coach Ravi Shastri told him, similar to the lines of what vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane had said on Tuesday.
“Ravi sir told me to enjoy the game, he said ‘play the way you play in Ranji trophy and the way you have been playing all these years’. Getting the Test cap is a great feeling.”
The young Mumbai batsman was part of the Indian squad for the last two Test matches against England, but didn’t get an opportunity as the team management decided to persist with Shikhar Dhawan and K L Rahul. Till date, 29 cricketers have played their first Test for India before turning 20 and Shaw will become the second youngest opening batsmen in India’s Test history after Vijay Mehra in 1955.
Additional reading: As Prithvi Shaw makes his bow, a look at India’s young Test debutants and how they fared.
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