Can Prithvi Shaw, once hailed as next Sachin, comeback after IPL auction spurn?

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. Incidentally, Shaw, the 2018 India U-19 captain, went unsold with a base price of Rs 75 lakhs, while his U-19 team-mates Shubman Gill (Rs 16.50 crore), Abhishek Sharma (Rs 14 crore), Riyan Parag (Rs 14 crore) and Arshadeep Singh (Rs 18 crore) minted gold at the mega IPL auctions.

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."

Ricky Ponting in an interview to 'Cricbuzz' expressed his disappointment on how he had to look at other players after Shaw failed to deliver the goods.

"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," Ponting had said.

Ponting's words would give an indication that no one likes schooling players at this level and even players don't like to hear sermons after one point of time.

There are fears that Shaw might go the Vinod Kambli way -- the script is getting eerily similar. Humble background, instant international stardom and then a sharp downward spiral.

Only difference is that in 1990's, the Indian cricket society wasn't as evolved as it is now. Kambli didn't have too many people around him, who could have actually brought him back on track.

In case of Shaw, there is help if he wants to seek out.

He needs to shed weight, score tons of runs but first and foremost, he needs to speak to himself, do a bit of soul searching about what he wants from life? Does he want his career to be confined to a short story or an epic novel? The answer will define the next course of his life.

Prithvi Shaw 2.0 is what Indian cricket would want. He is too good a 'talent' that the establishment cannot afford to lose.��

Meanwhile, an old video of the 25-year-old player addressing trolls resurfaced again.��

In the video, Shaw says "I feel like trolling is not ok but not that bad either, sometimes we see trolls, cricketers or others, I watch trolls, memes or any posts on me, I'll look at them. Sometimes it 'hurts', I'm not saying it will always be funny. Sometimes I feel that is wrong, 'it's not true'. Wherever i go people say 'are Prithvi is here and not practicing, but i will be thinking it is my birthday.'"�

"Couple of days back i got trolled, when i was dancing to Tamri Sambdi with my friends and family on my 25th birthday. I was trolled on that saying we're praying for Shaw to be back in the team but here he is dancing to Tamri Sambdi. I feel like I can take a day for myself in a year. I will be thinking what wrong did i do here? I know when i do something wrong. But when I'm not doing anything wrong , it should not be portrayed in a wrong way."�