As he tore into record books, Kalyan boy Pranav Dhanawade, whose unbeaten 1009 in an inter-school match is the highest individual score in all forms of cricket, had a flurry of congratulatory messages awaiting him from icons like Sachin Tendukar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
He topped Twitter's trending charts in India and the Twitterati were busy sending him congratulatory messages.
Pranav, the son of an autorickshaw driver and homemaker, said: "I wanted to play well, I was confident...I am happy, I am very very happy."
"Congratulations to #PranavDhanawade for his spectacular performance in inter-school #cricket," said NCP president and Mumbai Cricket Association president Sharad Pawar, a former ICC chief and ex-BCCI boss.
The Maharashtra government has decided to foot all his coaching and educational expenses. “We shall offer assistance to Pranav for his further education and cricket coaching,” said Vinod Tawde, the Minister for Education, Sports & Youth Welfare.
“Congrats #PranavDhanawade on being the first ever to score 1000 runs in an innings. Well done and work hard. You need to scale new peaks!," Tendulkar said in a tweet.
Speaking on the eve of India's departure to Australia for five ODIs and three Twenty20 internationals, MS Dhoni said, “It's not a joke to score so many runs. It's serious business in any conditions and grounds, keeping in mind his age. It's tremendous, it is important to improve. He must be a very special kid. I would have gotten bored. He's calculating in his batting. It is something that is very rare."
"Well played...no matter what levels cricket it is but numbers are just unbelievable. Another @sachin_rt in making?," tweeted spinner Harbhajan Singh.
"Have no idea of strength of bowling, match situation, standard of the tournament, but 1009 runs by an individual is just mind-boggling," said Sanjay Manjrekar.
"1009 runs takes long to say it but to achieve an individual score like this is a big achievement. I hope he plays with us some day. He should just focus on doing well," said Ajinkya Rahane, who incidentally did his schooling in Dombivli, that neighbours Kalyan township.
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