After Sachin, another boy wonder rises in Mumbai

MUMBAI: Barely four days after a legendary Mumbai cricketer retired, Prithvi Shaw, created a sensation by plundering a world record 546 for Rizvi Springfield against St Francis D'Assissi in the elite division of the Harris Shield tournament for senior schoolboys. Prithvi, a Class 9 student who was appointed captain of the Mumbai Under-16 team on Wednesday, celebrated the occasion with this special knock, going past the previous highest score in school cricket (498) recorded by his schoolmate Armaan Jaffer in 2010. Captain of his school team, Prithvi, an opener, had been unbeaten on 257 on Tuesday after his team had bowled out D'Assissi for 92 on Day One of the three-day game. On Wednesday, he continued his innings and spent almost six hours at the wicket in all, slamming 85 boundaries and five sixes in his 330-ball knock. He was finally out caught-and-bowled. Riding on Prithvi's knock and his 619-run partnership with Satyalakshya Jain (164), Rizvi amassed 991 runs in 116 overs against the opposition's hapless bowling attack. Prithvi and Jain missed going past the 664-run partnership between Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli in 1988 when Jain got stumped. Prithvi is a well-known name on the Mumbai schools circuit and has had two playing stints in England. He was in Manchester for three months last year and earlier this year played for Gloucestershire's second team, which is just below the level of first-class cricket. He now joins the highest scorers globally. His is the third highest score if one goes by all registered scorecards available worldwide since the start of competitive cricket. Englishman A E J Collins had scored 628 not out in a match in England in 1899, and Australian C J Eady had got 566 in 1901. The previous highest by an Indian is 515 by Dadabhoy Havewala for BB and CI Railway vs St Xavier's College, Mumbai, in 1933-34. Julian Wood, a former English county cricketer and founder of the JW cricket academy who spotted Prithvi at the MIG Club in Bandra five years ago, had told TOI earlier this year: "If he keeps up the work, in five years he will arguably be the best batsman in the world." The 14-year-old was besieged by the media after he got out, but he tackled all questions the way he had batted-with total command. In the slight British accent he has picked up because of stints in England, he said, "I was beginning to tire. I ran a lot between wickets. But when you are getting runs, these things take a backseat. The joy of getting a century, then a double ton, a 300, 400 and finally 500... is magical. The high of a big century helps overcome tiredness." England, he said, had been a learning experience. "I struggled for the first few days because everything was new. The weather, culture, but most importantly the playing conditions. I had to adjust a lot. But once I settled down, I began to enjoy." According to reports, Prithvi's mother died when he was just four years old, and his father shut his business to concentrate on bringing the boy up. At a young age, he is the family's breadwinner: he was signed up by former Indian spinner Nilesh Kulkarni's sports management company for Rs 3 lakh a year. Prithvi has been part of the famous trio of Rizvi-the other two being Jaffer (15) and Sarfaraz Khan (16)-from 2009. As an opener, Prithvi ensured most times that the other two got a solid platform to take the attack to the opposition. And more often than not, the duo delivered by scoring big centuries and walked away with the limelight. On Wednesday, though, Prithvi was the one in demand. Has it been frustrating for him to have lived under the shadow of the other two? "Absolutely not," he said. "We have shared very good moments together and shared rooms when playing outside Mumbai. Such thoughts never come to mind. We have an extremely healthy relationship on and off the field." Naushad Khan, Sarfaraz's father and a former cricketer of repute, said, "It is a great day for Mumbai cricket. I have seen Prithvi ever since he was a small kid. My prayer is that all three should play for India in the future." Prithvi's batting partner Jain, though, is kicking himself for having played an adventurous shot, because of which they didn't get past the Tendulkar-Kambli partnership. The thought of that partnership did cross their mind. "We were aware we approaching it, but..." Jain trailed off. TOI