Mumbai: Pranav Dhanawade, a 15-year-old student of KC Gandhi High School, Kalyan has broken a century-old cricketing record after amassing a staggering unbeaten 652 against Arya Gurukul School in an Bhandari Cup match on Monday. The tournament is an under-16 inter-school event organised by the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) mainly for the benefit of suburban schools.
Pranav’s epic knock which, incredibly, came off just 199 balls and included an eye-popping 72 fours and 28 sixes, saw him take over the mantle of ‘highest individual score’ (including minor cricket) from AEJ Collins. Collins had held the record since 1899 when he struck an unbeaten 628 for Clark House against North Town House in UK. In the course of his multiple record-breaking feat, Pranav also surpassed Prithvi Shaw’s marathon 546 scored two years ago in a Harris Shield tie, an innings that had previously been the highest individual score in any form of cricket in India.
Talking to the class 10 student, it was evident that the enormity of his accomplishment was yet to fully sink in. “I’m very happy,” Pranav shyly told TOI not too long after he had rewritten history at the Union Cricket Club ground. Insisting that the opposition bowling was ‘good’, he said thoughts of the record never entered his mind until he breached the 400 mark. “That’s when I thought it was possible,” he revealed.
What particularly delighted the teenager was the fact that his feat arrived in the presence of his father Prashant, an auto rickshaw driver. “I actually got to watch him only after he had crossed 300,” Prashant said. “A father of one of his friends called me and asked, ‘you are not at the ground?’. So I immediately rushed to the venue. It’s obviously a very proud day. It’s a reward for 11 years of his hard work,” he added. Fondly recalling memories of how he would juggle his modest job with accompanying a younger Pranav to his cricket coaching sessions four times a week, Prashant elaborated on the struggle that the Kalyan-based family had to wage. “There’s a lot of talent in our area but we lack proper facilities for children to play and get trained. For this reason, when Pranav turned nine, I enrolled him for coaching at MIG in Bandra.
“I would drive my rickshaw in the morning and then we’d leave for MIG in the afternoon and return at night. I stopped accompanying him towards the end of 2014 as he had learnt how to travel on his own by then. Since then he has been going with a group of other boys,” said Prashant.
Just as proud of Pranav’s golden moment was his longtime coach Mobin Shaikh. “I’ve been an MCA coach for the past 25 years, but this is something special,” said Shaikh. “It’s not a matter of how many runs he has scored but the fact that he has opened a door for youngsters here. It is my hope that Pranav’s feat can be a new dawn for the sport in this part of the city.”
Prashant shares similar sentiments. “Parents today complain that their children are mostly addicted to their phones and computers. So when our children want to play, they need to be encouraged. I keep telling my passengers too to do the same,” he said while acknowledging the financial hurdles.
“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.”
After Monday’s development, his task could get a whole lot less complicated.
