With 1009 in 323 balls, Mumbai teen scripts rare record

The 15-year-old student of KC Gandhi High School, Kalyan has broken a 116-old cricketing record after amassing unbeaten 652 on Monday thus taking over the mantle of “highest individual score” (including minor cricket) from AEJ Collins. The record earlier belonged to Arthur Collins, who smashed unbeaten 628 not out in a Junior House Match in June 1899 in England.

It is understood the bowling attack from the Arya Gurukul side were not as enamoured with the record-shattering display – a match in which the KC Gandhi side reached 2-1148.

“Once I reached 350, I was determined that I had to break those records”.

For India, Prithvi Shaw of Rizvi school in Mumbai had scored 546 a few years ago. “My teammates gave me glucose water and urged me to carry on”, Dhanawade told Mid-Day. “I did not know of the world record, but we had the Indian record in mind”.

An IndianExpress report from Monday quoted Dhanawade’s father, an autorickshaw driver, saying that it would be a dream come true for him if his son was selected for the Mumbai U16 team. Pranav is getting non-stop calls from the media and relatives.

Pranav’s coach Mobin Sheikh said he will be a great inspiration for the budding cricketers.

While Brian Lara holds the highest individual first class score of 501 and Test score of 400, there have been four Indians who have scored 500 or more in a single innings before Pranav Dhanawade’s marathon. “As the toe-end of my bat had a crack, I tried to middle the ball and hit it towards the boundary”, Dhanawade was cited as saying by Mumbai-based newspaper Mid-Day.

Riding on his innings, his school finished on a mammoth Day 1 total of 956 for 1 on Day 1 as his teammates Aakash Singh and Siddhesh Patil also notched up centuries.