Sadler labels Steelbacks signing Shaw 'one of the hottest talents in world cricket'

The 23-year-old has put pen to paper on a short-term deal at the County Ground, that will see him be available to play in the entire Metro Bank One Day Cup campaign that starts this Friday.

It had been initially hoped that Shaw would have been available for recent matches in the LV Insurance County Championship, but red tape and administrative issues put paid to that.

But he is in Northampton now, and will add real class and quality to the Steelbacks' batting for the 50-over competition.

The Mumbai opener, who also turns out for Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League, burst on to the cricketing scene as a 14-year-old when he scored a remarkable 546 from 330 balls in a school match - hitting 85 fours and five sixes!

When he was 16, he stepped up to first-class cricket and scored a Ranji Trophy semi-final century for Mumbai, before a year later becoming the youngest player to score a century on his Duleep Trophy debut. He was 17, and claimed the record previously held by a certain Sachin Tendulkar.

Shaw captained India Under-19s to World Cup glory, and in 2018 was handed his India Test debut against the West Indies in Rajkot - marking the occasion with a brilliant 134 from 154 balls.

That was the first of five Test appearances to date, with the right-hander scoring two further half-centuries before falling from favour, and he hasn't played a Test since taking on Australia at Adelaide in December 2020.

Shaw has also represented India in six one-day internationals and in one T20 international, but has now been away from the international scene since July 2021.

He is a player desperate to fight his way back into the India team, and he sees this stint with Northants in England as a great opportunity to get himself noticed again.

And that is a chance that Sadler and Northants are only too happy to offer him.

"Prithvi is one of the hottest talents in world cricket," said the County's head coach. "Opening the batting for India in all formats means that you are highly, highly skilled.

"He has had to deal with a world of expectations. In his junior years he was India's Under-19 World Cup-winning captain, he was star of that show, and then burst on the scene with India, making 100 on debut.

"Then he has been talked about as the next Tendulkar and all that, and we can't imagine what that expectation is like, because there are not many people who will ever get that thrust upon their shoulders.

"Look, his career has not quite gone the way it should have, but that doesn't mean he is not as good a player as what he has shown in the past.

"He is really, really excited and so hungry to come over here and firstly help the team do well, and secondly get his international status back, and get his position back at the top of the Indian order.

"He sees county cricket as a way of being able to do that, and he is very, very hungry and driven to come over here and do well."

Although he hasn't shone on the international stage in recent years, Shaw has still made his mark in his homeland - and in January of this year he showed he still has plenty to offer as he hit a career-best 379 playing for Mumbai against Assam.

The innings lasted 383 balls and saw Shaw hit 49 fours and four sixes.

It was the second highest Ranji Trophy score in history, second only to Bhausaheb Nimbalkar's 443 made back in 1948 - meaning Shaw's effort is the second highest first-class score ever made by an Indian batter.

In 50-over cricket, Shaw has also impressed as he has racked up 2,627 runs at an average 52.54 and a strike-rate of 123.27, and he can also boast the small matter of a top score of 227 not out!

That came in a Vijay Hazare Trophy match in 2021, with Shaw clubbing 31 fours and five sixes in his 153-ball assault for Mumbai in a win over Puducherry.

"There are not many people who are higher regarded in world cricket than Prithvi Shaw," said Sadler.

"So when somebody like him becomes available, we jump at the chance.

"We are excited to get in somebody of his calibre, and hopefully he can score some runs.

"He is still quite a young man, but make no mistake he is a superstar out in India, and his numbers and his skill levels back that up."

Shaw is in line to make his Northants Steelbacks debut in Friday’s One Day Cup opener against Gloucestershire at Cheltenham.

He is then scheduled to make his first appearance at the County Ground on Sunday when the Steelbacks host Sussex (start 11am).