'Going to be his biggest season' - Ricky Ponting's bold prediction for India star ahead of Indian T20 League 2023

Ricky Ponting, the head coach of the Delhi franchise of the Indian T20 League (ITL), has supported young batter Prithvi Shaw to succeed this season despite losing his spot in the Indian team and recently getting into a brief altercation with spectators.

"I think we are going to see the real Prithvi Shaw this season," Ponting said. "He's in a better physical shape than I've ever seen him before. I spoke to him the other day about his attitude, the way he's working, and how things are going. I honestly feel that this is going to be his biggest season in the ITL. He just has that different look in his eye this year. You can see, he's hungrier than ever," Ponting said.

'Something has really clicked with Prithvi' -  Ricky Ponting

"It just seems to me that this season, something has really clicked with Prithvi Shaw. I actually said to him at the end of the training two days ago, 'This game, if you don't pay full attention to it, it'll take away from you. But if you put in the hard yards, it will give back to you all the time.' That's why I feel that this could be a really big year for him," the Aussie Legend added.

Off-field incidents, including being attacked in a bar room, had also originally derailed the former Australian captain's career. He was also given a three-match suspension. "It is well documented that I had some issues early on," Ricky Ponting said.

"It’s all about just being true to yourself and wanting to be the best that you can be. The one thing that I always say to our players is that I don’t like laziness and guys not utilizing the talent that they’ve got. That’s my job as a coach. Looking back at my career… there wasn’t as much spotlight on me back then as some of the Indian guys just through the sheer amount of numbers, media and everything. It’s about letting the players understand how big what they are actually doing is in public size. As a player, sometimes you don’t see the bigger picture of it than just you playing cricket. It’s how everyone else perceives you in the real world. The ITL, for all these youngsters, is not the real world,” he added.