Fifteen-year-old Pranav Dhanawade, son of an auto-rickshaw driver, created cricketing history on Tuesday when he scored a mind-boggling unbeaten 1,009 runs in an inter-school under-16 tournament, thus surpassing the earlier international record of 628 runs set by AEJ Collins in UK in 1899.
Pranav’s feat earned him kudos from India’s cricketing legends like Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh and the promise of free education and coaching by the Maharashtra Government.
Pranav, a student of Kalyan-based KC Gandhi High School, became the first cricketer to score 1,000-odd runs in an innings in any form of cricket across the world, as he helped his school trounce Arya Gurukul School by a huge margin of an innings and 1,362 runs in the inter-school Bhandari Cup tournament organised by the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA).
Resuming his batting after an overnight score of 652 runs on Monday, Pranav was at his swashbuckling best, as he belted 357 more runs on Tuesday and remained unbeaten at 1,009 runs, before his team declared its first innings at an astounding 1,465 for three.
Having scored mere 31 runs in the first innings, Arya Gurukul School put up another shabby performance in the second innings as well, ending up scoring a paltry 72 runs. In his 1,009 runs that he scored off just 323 balls, Pranav smashed 129 fours and hit 59 sixes.
Reacting to his astounding performance, the smiling wicketkeeper-batsman said: “I am happy, very, very happy”.
“When I started, I wanted to play well...bat well...But, on Monday evening after scoring 652 runs, I set the target of 1,000 runs and played my usual game,” a thrilled-to-the-hilt Pranav said.
When he resumed his batting on the second day, he had broken the earlier international and other individual records of 628 not out, scored by AEJ Collins for Clark’s House against North Town in Clifton in 1899, 566 of CJ Eady for Break-o’-Day against Wellington at Hobart in 1901-02, and surpassed the record for the highest individual score of 546 runs made by an Indian cricketer in school cricket, Prithvi Shaw, in the Harris Shield in 2013-14. Sarfaraz Khan and Arman Jaffer — both part of India’s current Under-19 squad, had made 439 in 2009 and 498 in 2010.
Congratulatory messages from the cricketing world flowed in after the news of the teenager’s feat broke.
“Congrats #PranavDhanawade on being the first-ever to score 1,000 runs in an innings. Well done and work hard. You need to scale new peaks!,” legendary batsman Sachin Tendulkar tweeted,
soon after he heard of Pranav scoring an unbeaten 1,009 runs in inter-school match.
Talking to media persons 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 ground, keeping in mind the age. It's tremendous, it is important to improve. He must be a very special kid. I would have gotten bored. He's calculating his batting. It is something that is very rare”.
“Have no idea of strength of bowling, match situation, standard of the tournament, but 1,009 runs by an individual is just mind-boggling,” a technically sound former test cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar said.
“Well played...no matter what level of cricket it is, but the numbers are just unbelievable. Another @sachin_rt in makingIJ,” tweeted spinner Harbhajan Singh.
“Congratulations to #PranavDhanawade for his spectacular performance in inter-school #cricket,” NCP president and former chief of ICC and BCCI Sharad Pawar said.
Cricket statistician Mohandas Menon said: “We are used to school cricketers scoring 300 to 400 runs easily. But, what Pranav has done is phenomenal. It is like Jim laker bagging 19 wickets in England's victory in a test match against Australia way back in 1956. like in the case of Jim laker, my gut feeling is that Pranav's record will not be broken at all”.
Pranav's father Prashant Dhanawade is an auto-rickshaw driver, while his mother Mohini is a homemaker and a small-time caterer. “My father played cricket, I also played cricket, but could not continue for various reasons...I am happy to see my son fulfill our dreams,” Prashant said.
“We are happy...he has worked hard, we look forward to Pranav playing for the country in future,” an emotional Mohini said.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Government announced its plans to foot all the coaching and educational expenses of Pranav. “We shall offer assistance to Pranav for his further education and cricket coaching,” Maharashtra Education, Sports and Youth Welfare Minister Vinod Tawde said.