"Those few innings [at the start of IPL 2023] went in a flash," he said. "[While] I kept thinking about the first match, I quickly realised three matches had passed. The learning was once the match is done, just leave it there. You can't do anything about it, it's history. You have to keep moving forward.

"Whichever game I play - Duleep Trophy, a Mumbai [club] game, whichever game - it's important for me to bring my best. I'm the kind of person who always puts the team first. I feel that sometimes you just have to take a step back and then go forward again. Things will come your way if you do the right things at the right time."

"When I came back for the T20s against New Zealand, I didn't get a chance [to play] but this is what life is," he said. "Sometimes you get chances, sometimes you don't. You have to accept it. It's not like I'll be sitting down there and thinking 'why, why'. I mean, I do ask myself that question but at the end of the day, if you go there and perform well, do your fitness routines, score well, you'll be there. I just try and be as positive as I can."

That positivity, Shaw said, isn't just part of his thought process but his game, too. He is clear while aggression is part of his batting DNA, he is learning to be "a little smarter than what I am" to try to bring consistency to his game.

"I try to play with the bowlers, do some things that are going to distract them and make them bowl here and there, and give me the balls that I want and not what they want to bowl. These are the things I look forward to when conditions are like this.

"I feel whatever has brought me till here, I will stick to that method, be the same. If I change right now for something, for example, I can't bat like [Cheteshwar] Pujara sir. He can't bat like me. I just try to do what has brought me here, everything god has given me, like this aggressive batting. I don't like to change that, be it T20 or any format. The mindset is the same across formats, obviously I won't go slashing if I shouldn't in red-ball cricket, but mindset is to be aggressive."

"I'm expecting to be better than what I was last year," Shaw said. "I just want to be a step ahead, be a better version of myself as a good batter, as an athlete and as a good person."