'I feel I don't have to change my game, but a little smarter than what I am.'
After a bright start to his career, Prithvi Shaw has now slipped down the India pecking order but the Mumbai youngster on Saturday said he is banking on his natural 'aggressive' game to score runs and earn his place back in the Indian team.
Shaw last appeared for India in a T20I match against Sri Lanka at Colombo in July 2021.
"Personally, I feel I don't have to change my game, but a little smarter than what I am. I can't bat like Pujara sir bats or Pujara sir can't bat like me.
"So, what I am trying to do are those things that have brought me here till, for example, the aggressive batting, I don't like to change that," said Shaw after West Zone's Duleep Trophy semi-final against Central Zone in Bengaluru.
Shaw said he was looking to play as many games as possible at this stage of his career.
The 23-year-old said every run would be very important for him in his endeavour to make a comeback.
"I think whichever game for me right now is as important as anything. Even if I'm playing Duleep Trophy or my Mumbai game, I feel it's very important for me to bring out my best," said Shaw.
Ideally, Shaw would have liked to be among big runs in the Duleep Trophy semi-final but he could not convert his 25 and 26 into impactful knocks.
Shaw admitted that the conditions were a bit tough for the batters but laid out a plan to survive and make runs.
"It's not that you can always be perfect but I try to work harder after these kinds of things happen (not getting runs). T20 is a bit more slashing, but a similar mindset. Not the similar way as in T20 with me when I am playing red ball cricket as well," said Shaw.
"What I should try is to play with bowlers, distract them, and force them to give the ball that you want and not the ball that they want to bowl," he said.
However, Shaw found a ray of hope in his form the previous Ranji season. He had scored 595 runs from six matches for Mumbai at an average of 59.50.
Now, Shaw wants to carry his form in red ball cricket to other formats as well.
"Everything has been going nice in red ball cricket from last year itself after I scored 370 (379 vs Assam). With white ball, especially the IPL, I feel everything is going the opposite. You just have 20 overs to think about batting. I speak to Sourav (Ganguly) sir, Ricky (Ponting) sir and Praveen (Amre) sir (in Delhi Capitals).
"But red ball cricket is where you get tested and shows how capable you are to get into the bigger level," Shaw said.
