Cricketers around the world hailed the feat of 15-year-old Indian schoolboy Pranav Dhanawade for scoring record 1,009 runs not out off 323 balls in an innings. Dhanawade, the son of a rickshaw driver, spent more than six-and-a-half hours at the crease over two days, and broke his bat, in scoring 1,009 runs. His performance, in a school tournament in Mumbai for KC Gandhi School, electrified Indians.
Sachin Tendulkar was quick to congratulate the schoolboy on his mind-boggling knock and gifted his own autographed bat to Dhanawade. "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!" Tendulkar had tweeted.
Harbhajan Singh, a member of India’s national team, said: “No matter what level cricket it is, the numbers are just unbelievable.” The Maharashtra government was quick to promise to take care of the costs of the teenager’s future schooling and coaching.
The previous record innings was set by 13-year-old Arthur Collins, who scored 628 for his house at Clifton College, the British independent school, in 1899. David Gower, the former England captain, chastised himself for “giggling” at the one-sided scorecard, which recorded that KC Gandhi won by an innings and 1,382 runs after their opponents, Akul Gurukul, were bowled out for just 31 and 52 runs in two innings.
Prashant, his father, said he had rushed to the ground when he heard his son was approaching 300 runs. He explained that he used to ferry his son to the suburb of Bandra to take advantage of better coaching. “I would drive my rickshaw in the morning and then we would leave for MIG cricket club in Bandra in the afternoon and return at night.” He added: “Cricket equipment costs a lot of money. I have tried to find sponsors for my son but on one occasion I was told that he first needs to make a name for himself.”
MS Dhoni, India's present limited-overs captain, said: “It is a tremendous effort. It is just that we need to nurture his (Dhanawade’s) talent, guide him at the same time, because all of a sudden the limelight will be on him. He will be compared to a lot of individuals who have been very successful. “It is important for the individuals who are close to him, his coach, his parents to guide him to move in the right direction.”
India's middle order batsman Ajinkya Rahane also heaped praise for Dhanawade, saying that his knock was massive and hoped that he would play for India some day. "It's a massive feat to do this. He has started well. Scoring 1009 runs take long to say it but to achieve an individual score like this is a big feat. I hope he plays with us someday. He should just focus on doing well," he said.
Dhanawade's epic 395-minute knock included 129 fours and 59 sixes, both world records for an innings. “I have always been a big hitter,” he said. “When I started I never thought about breaking the record. I just played my natural game, which is to attack from the word go.”
By stumps on the first evening of the two-day game, Dhanawade had reached 652 and he pressed on, reaching 921 by lunch off the unfortunate bowling of Arya Gurukul school. Dhanawade passed the 1,000-run mark before his team declared on 1,465 for 3. Amid chaotic scenes, the young star was carried from the field on the shoulders of his team-mates, brandishing his bat.
Like millions of Indian children from humble backgrounds, Dhanawade started by playing street cricket. His father drives an auto-rickshaw and worked extra hours to pay for his kit and early coaching.
“I want my son to become a great cricketer. He has proved that he has the talent today. Cricket is not an easy sport and expensive too,” Prashant Dhanawade said, adding that his dream was to see his son play for the Mumbai under-16 side.
It is hoped that Dhanawade enjoys a happier fate than the record breaker he eclipsed. Arthur Collins never again matched his extraordinary feat as a 13-year-old. Collins failed to break into the adult game, though he did score a half- century at Lord’s for the Royal Engineers. He was killed, aged 29, in November 1914 in the first battle of Ypres, one of the early casualties in a war that would claim the lives of almost 300 first-class cricketers.
Reservations over Dhanawade's innings
Pranav Dhanawade became a global internet sensation. However, reservations are now being expressed about the 15-year-old’s innings.
Sharmila Thakur deserves sympathy for acting as scorer, especially on the second day when Dhanawade, overcoming cramp from the night before, resumed on 652 and media and local politicians descended on the ground. Some, though, have queried her accuracy.
Dhanawade was reported to have reached 652 with 78 fours and 30 sixes. He batted on to 1,009 with 129 fours and 59 sixes, yet his boundaries alone on the second day should have raised his score to 1,030. Other inconsistencies were apparent in interim reports of his score and the team total. If the final boundary tally is right, he scored 139 off the other 139 balls faced, which on a small ground suggests the standard of fielding was as poor as you would expect from a bunch of weary kids.
The playing area in a walled field between housing blocks was small, particularly square of the wicket on one side, which made boundary hits easier, but while the published scorecard shows Dhanawade hitting 59 sixes, the other batsmen hit only two while making 384 runs between them. According to Mobin Shaikh, who has coached Dhanawade since he was five, the same ball was used throughout: “Not a single ball was lost.”
Shaikh said that while the ground was small, it was not small for under-16 cricket and he had played on similar sized fields in league cricket in Bradford 20 years ago. He also defended the controversial decision to bat on against a team made up of youngsters two or three years younger than him, saying the crowd were shouting, “Don’t declare, don’t declare.”
Dhanawade’s team, KC Gandhi English School, eventually declared on 1,465-3. The bowling team, Arya Gurukul, had been bowled out for 31 in their first innings and were subsequently dismissed for 52. Shaik said: “The way the game was going, he was scoring so fast, the mindset of people was that there was no looking back. They were so passionate, like they were watching some kind of movie. It was like a miracle.”
He has instructed Dhanawade not to play today for KC Gandhi in order to prepare for examinations, an ironic decision given that the opposition he put to the sword last week from Arya Gurukul were unable to send their under-16 players because their school principal refused to release them because of exams.
The replacements were under-14s and, according to their coach Yogesh Jagtap, most were playing competitively for the first time. Some reports put the boys’ ages as low as 11 or 12. Photographs show them to be much smaller than Dhanawade, who turns 16 in March. Shaikh, who attended the second day of the two-day game, was full of praise for the fielding side. “I was very happy with the other team’s boys, the way they played. Even when fours and sixes were being hit, their interest level was good. The wicketkeeper was especially good, to keep for one and a half days at the age of 13 or 14. The body language was very good. They took something from the game that will help them.” For all that, Jagtap said they dropped Dhanawade “quite a few times”.
Box
Here's a record that can't be broken
Just like the record created by Pranav Dhanawade, there is a feat just as remarkable was witnessed some years back in an east London park by Nick, himself no mean cricketer. In a game between two teams of Bangladeshi teenagers, he was amazed to see one side’s opening bowler take a wicket with every ball of his first over. No wicket fell in the next. When the first bowler came back for his second over he immediately took the four remaining wickets, finishing with figures of 10 for 0 in 10 balls.
