Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen hailed Sarfaraz Khan's physical transformation as he urged Prithvi Shaw to follow him. Sarfaraz, who has been running out for the Indian team, shared his transformation picture, in which he seemed pretty lean.
Safaraz was not picked for the Test series in England despite being in the squad for the Border-Gavaskar series in late 2024 and early 2025. He was with the India A side on the shadow tour to England and slammed 92 off 119 balls in the first innings of the first unofficial Test. Despite this effort, he was not added to the squad.
However, Sarfaraz seems to be spending a lot of time in his gym as he shed 17 kgs of weight during his transformation. Taking note of Sarafraz's efforts, former England cricketer Pietersen praised him.
"Outstanding effort, young man! Huge congrats, and I’m sure it’s going to lead to better and more consistent performances on the field. I love the time you’ve spent reorganising your priorities! LFG! Can someone show Prithvi this please? It can be done! Strong body, strong mind!" he wrote on his social media post.
Shaw was seen as the next mega star after leading India to the 2018 U19 World Cup win. He made his Test debut in the same year against the West Indies and scored a century in his maiden Test, becoming only the 15th Indian to do so.
However, his career took a dip in the 2020 Border-Gavaskar series, when he last featured in the whites during the infamous Adelaide Test, when India had collapsed to 36.
Shaw has played five Tests for India, having scored 339 runs. He featured in six ODIs and one T20I for the Indian team, scoring 189 runs in ODIs and a golden duck in the T20I.
Recently, Shaw has made a switch to Maharashtra for the 2025-26 domestic season and will play under Ruturaj Gaikwad's captaincy. His fitness and disciplinary issues have been at the forefront in recent times. He was dropped from Mumbai’s Ranji Trophy squad and failed to find an owner in IPL 2025 mega action, going unsold.
