Delhi Capitals assistant coach Pravin Amre opened up about the exclusion of Prithvi Shaw from the playing XI for the past couple of matches after the franchise concluded their Indian Premier League 2024 group stage. Shaw was retained by the Capitals ahead of the season and didn’t feature in the first two games. In his first game of IPL 2024, he struck a quick 43 off 27 balls against Chennai Super Kings. The right-handed batter went on to score 66(40) against the five-time champion Mumbai Indians. But his form started to waver after that.

On the other hand, Abhishek Porel made the most of the opportunity and smacked 327 runs in 12 innings at a strike rate of 159.51.

Porel starred in DC’s final game of the group stage on Tuesday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium against the Lucknow Super Giants. DC stood victorious with a 19-run win.

He left the opposition bowlers gobsmacked with his knock of 58 off 33 deliveries. He aided DC in the powerplay, which saw them amass 73 runs. He also forged a 92-run stand with Shai Hope for the second wicket.

“He [Shaw] was our retained player, and as you see, last four [of five] games he was also on the bench. But that’s the IPL. If you are not in form, you can’t [keep your place]. Ultimately, the pressure for the team is so much that every game is important and we have to win,” Amre said as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.

“And we had done that. Without playing him, we won the games. And whoever got the opportunity… I think Abishek grabbed the opportunities with both hands,” he added.

Shaw made a total of eight appearances for DC in the ongoing season. In eight matches, he has 198 runs at an average of 24.75 and a strike rate of 163.64. In his eight appearances, he has a sole fifty to his name.

While Porel featured across various positions for DC. In the three matches the left-handed batter played as an opener, Porel amassed 159 runs at a strike rate of 165.62.