Is Prithvi Shaw Going The Vinod Kambli Way? IPL Teams' Snub Puts India's 'Next Big Thing' At Crossroads

Two days ago, a seemingly relaxed Prithvi Shaw appeared on a YouTube vlog where he spoke about the best ever one-line advice that he had once got from Sachin Tendulkar "Discipline beats talent" was the maestro's terse tip for Shaw, the 25-year-old would tell social media influencer Karan Sonawane on the latter's YouTube channel 'Focussed Indian'. Monday must have been a difficult one for Shaw, who could not find takers at the IPL mega auction in Jeddah. The 2018 U-19 World Cup winning captain was seen as the next big thing in Indian cricket and expectations increased when he scored a century on Test debut six seasons ago.

Perhaps now is the time when he needs to walk the talk and not just let Tendulkar's advice remain mere words.

Twice his name came up at the auction and despite a base price of Rs 75 lakh, not one paddle went up for him.

There was Sourav Ganguly at one table, Rahul Dravid at another. The wise men at the table also included Ashish Nehra, Parthiv Patel, Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting, Stephen Fleming and Daniel Vettori.

No one was remotely interested in Shaw, who had blazed into the collective consciousness of Indian fans with his boyish charm and a game to match.

But six years is a long time and after the IPL rejection, Shaw now stands at the crossroads in his career --- it can either go boom or bust depending on what he wants to make out of his talent.

"Prithvi has been in Delhi Capitals. In DC itself, he had a chance to interact with Rahul Dravid, who was also his U-19 India coach, Ricky Ponting, Sourav Ganguly.

"It's an open secret in Mumbai cricket that Tendulkar has also spoken to him. Are these legends fools? Do you see any change in him? Even if there is, it is not evident," a former India selector,