It seems as if Ricky Ponting has dropped the ball on Prithvi Shaw. Having spent three seasons with the India youngster at Delhi Capitals during the IPL, Ponting feels Shaw has not been able to justify his talent which in an ideal world, would easily bag him a place in the Playing XI of a team. But given Shaw's history of form, injury and discipline issues, Ponting has pretty much given up on the 24-year-old.

Shaw is currently playing for Northamptonshire in the Royal London One-Day Cup but has scored 9 and 40 from two matches thus far. Ponting, who has parted ways with the Capitals after serving as their coach for seven seasons, has never hidden away from curious case of Shaw, having the guts to call a spade a spade every time Shaw was struggling, But despite working closely and investing a lot of his time and efforts, Ponting has run out of chances to give to the once Indian prodigy.

"I mean to start with I don't like talking about individual players, but Prithvi shouldn't be an outlier. He should be someone that's in every team; the first pick in most teams with the skill that he's got. He's had a chance to represent India as a youngster, making a hundred on his Test debut," Ponting told Cricbuzz in an interview.

"And as you say, halfway through this year, we couldn't find a slot for him in our DC team. So that's disappointing for me as a coach not to be able to make certain players better and get the best out of them. But sometimes there's only so much you can give and so many times you can try."

Once hailed as the next Sachin Tendulkar, Shaw has dealt with his fair share of turmoil, from getting injured to being banned for the use of an illegal substance to getting caught up in off the field activities. After leading India to the Under-19 World Cup in 2018 and then debuting for India with a century in a Test match against West Indies, Shaw was primed to make it big. But an injury sustained in Australia ahead of the 2018 Border-Gavaskar Trophy is where it all went downhill for him.

Ponting remains hopeful

Shaw has had two decent seasons in the IPL with DC, scoring 353 runs in 2019 and 479 in 2021. But the rest has been abysmal – especially the last two seasons, where in 16 matches, he's managed a total of 304 runs. Even the Indian team has apparently moved on from him – he last played the country in July of 2021. While he needs nothing less than a miracle to bring him back into the thick of things, Ponting really wishes that Shaw is able to dig himself out of a hole.

"When you feel like you're not making players better and they're not doing what you need for the team, then you've got to look for other players that can do it for you. So that then comes back to the player. With him in particular I've had a lot of chats with him, a lot of conversations to try and make him a better cricketer," added Ponting.

I mean, he's still a young man. And he's still a very talented young player. And hopefully one day the penny really drops for him and he works out what he needs to do to be the best cricketer that he can be.

Read Also: Why Sarabjot Singh missed out on 10m air pistol qualification despite finishing with same points as German opponent