'Not today': Indian batsman's brutal rejection of Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting is the first to admit he and Indian batting prodigy Prithvi Shaw didn't quite see eye to eye during last year's Indian Premier League tournament.

The former Australian Test captain is set to return as coach of the Dehli Capitals and Shaw, widely considered among Indian fans to be one of the nation's great batting hopes.

'GOOD LORD': Aussie channels Shane Warne with 'ball of the decade'

'CAN'T DO THAT': Cricket fans fume over 'disgusting' dismissal

Shaw enjoyed a string start to his IPL 2020 campaign, hitting two half-centuries in three innings to start the tournament, before falling out of form and finishing with an average of just 17.53 runs in 13 matches.

Despite Shaw's surprising slump the Delhi Capitals made it all the way to the final, where they lost by five wickets to the Mumbai Indians.

Excited by the prospect of once again coaching the talented 21-year-old Shaw, Ponting admitted it was up to the pair of them to figure out they best way to work with one another.

Ponting said there were times last season where he hadn't quite understood Shaw's approach to the game.

I’ve had some really interesting chats with him through last year’s IPL, just trying to break him down, trying to find out exactly what was the right way to coach him and how I was going to get the best out of him,” Ponting told cricket.com.au.

“But he had an interesting theory on his batting last year — when he’s not scoring runs, he won’t bat, and when he is scoring runs, he wants to keep batting all the time.

“He had four or five games where he made under 10 and I’m telling him, ‘We have to go to the nets and work out (his issues)’, and he looked me in the eye and said, ‘No, I’m not batting today’.

“I couldn’t really work that out.

“I was going pretty hard at him. I was basically telling him, ‘Mate you’ve got to get in the nets. Whatever you think you’re working on, is not working for you’.

“I challenged him and he stuck to his word and he didn’t practice much at all towards the back-end of the tournament, and didn’t get many runs towards the back-end of the tournament either.”

Ignoring the advice of an undisputed batting champion is a bold move on the part of Shaw, with Ponting hoping the young gun had learned from the slump.

Shaw's luck didn't improve during India's subsequent tour of Australia, which kicked off after the IPL concluded.

He was dropped after just one Test match, after he was clean bowled twice in two innings.

NSW and Qld draw in Shield, final looms

The Sheffield Shield final could be a spin-off with Mitch Swepson and Nathan Lyon going head-to-head again as Queensland all but locked in a decider against NSW.

Swepson (4-60), returning early to cricket after a neck injury, was a constant menace in the second innings against the Blues before bad weather in Wollongong saw their final round match fade out to a draw.

NSW were 5-145 with a lead of 93 when captains from both sides agreed to call a halt to proceedings at North Dalton Park midway through the second session of day four.

With Western Australia struggling against Tasmania, it means the Bulls are set to host the decider in Brisbane starting next Thursday.

Swepson and Lyon look primed for the occasion.

The Queensland leggie had been a little rough in the first innings after six weeks out of the game but bowled plenty of gems in NSW's second dig as the Bulls at one stage sensed they could run through the home side's batting order.

In just four matches this season he's claimed 29 wickets at 22.44.

Swepson described the day's result as bittersweet given the Bulls were making a late charge but was now geared up for the decider.

"It would have been nice to see another 20 (minutes), half an hour just to see where we would have gone ... but locking in a Shield final spot is a great feeling," he said.

With AAP

Watch 'Mind Games', the new series from Yahoo Sport Australia exploring the often brutal mental toil elite athletes go through in pursuit of greatness:

Click here to sign up to our newsletter for all the latest and breaking stories from Australia and around the world.