JOIN USMumbai teenager Prithvi Shaw, 14, created a national record, hitting an astonishing 546 while playing for Rizvi Springfield against St Francis D’Assisi Borivali in an inter-school cricket match for the prestigious Harris Shield here on Wednesday.
Touted as one of the bright young prospects emerging out of the Mumbai school of batsmanship, the state U-16 captain Prithvi hit 85 boundaries and five sixes in the match played at Azad Maidan.
In the process, Prithvi became the first schoolboy cricketer to hit a 500-plus score in an official inter-school match.
“I am feeling good. It is a good score for me and my team. Our coach just asked me to concentrate on every ball. The only plan was to score as many runs as we could. I want to continue like this in future also,” the youngster said.
Prithvi eclipsed his senior schoolmate and former India opener Wasim Jaffer’s nephew Armaan’s score of 498, which he scored almost three years ago.
Armaan, now 16, is currently a member of the Mumbai under-19 squad and has just resumed his competitive cricket following a toe-operation on his right leg at the beginning of this season.
Having bowled out St Francis for 92, Prithvi was unbeaten on 257 off 166 balls on Tuesday and smashed another 289 runs on Wednesday
It was this competition that first brought Sachin Tendulkar into national prominence after his world record partnership of 664 with Vinod Kambli that was broken a few years ago.
Previous record
The previous highest by an Indian in any form of registered competitive cricket was the 515 by Dadabhoy Havewala for BB and CI Railway vs St Xavier’s College at Mumbai during 1933-34 season.
This is the third highest score if one were to go by all registered scorecards available worldwide since the inception of competitive cricket. A E J Collins scored 628 not out in a competitive match in England in 1899 before C J Eady struck 566 in 1901.
There has been a buzz about Prithvi’s immense talent in the Mumbai cricket circuit for quite some time. He also went on a cricket scholarship to the United Kingdom where he had trained at the Gloucestershire academy and also played some practice matches for their second team.
From the age of eight, he used to travel around 70 km from suburban Virar to be in time for his coaching camp and matches in the maidans of Mumbai. With performances like these, there is a possibility that the junior selection committee under the chairmanship of Connor Williams will be seriously thinking about Shaw with the Under-19 World Cup in mind next year.