Pranav Dhanawade, a 15-year-old cricketer from Mumbai, has broken a world record by smashing 1,000 not out, by far the highest individual score in minor cricket, say media reports.
Dhanawade hit an unbelievable 129 boundaries and 59 sixes in his knock of 1009 not out.
Dhanawade had already reached the record on Monday, smashing 652 off 199 balls while representing Smt KC Gandhi School, Kalyan, in the HT Bhandari Cup inter-school tournament.
Dhanawade broke a 117-year-old record, when he surpassed the score of 628* scored by Arthur Collins in 1899.
"I have always been a big-hitter," Dhanawade told the Hindustan Times on Monday. "When I started I never thought about breaking the record. The focus was never that. I just played my natural game, which is to attack from the word go.
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"After reaching 300, my coach Harish Sharma told me to play on. I did not know of the world record, but we had the Indian record in mind."
For India, Prithvi Shaw of Rizvi school in Mumbai had scored 546 a few years ago.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra education minister Vinod Tawde has announced that the state government would cover all costs of Pranav Dhanawade's cricket coaching. The Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Corporation has also congratulated and hailed Dhanawade. The 15-year-old comes from a poor background, with his father working as an autorickshaw driver.
"He has got cramps after his mammoth innings,"Pranav's father Prashant had told dna on Monday. "I don't know what to say but I feel proud that my son has achieved this feat.
"Pranav is getting non stop calls from the media and relatives. He has not even go the time to talk to his mother. She is keenly waiting for him to return home," Prashant added.
Pranav said, "When I got the chance to bat, I was desperate to get a three digit score as I had got out in 80s in the first two games. I had promised my coach that I will get a century this time."
Pranav said he was motivated to break the records of India U-19 stars Sarfaraz Khan (439 in Harris Shield 2009), Armaan Jaffer (498 in Giles Shield 2010-11 & 473 in Harris Shield 2012-13) and Mumbai U-19 opener Prithvi Shaw.
"Once I reached 350, I was determined that I had to break those records. I had heard about the three and how they made it to the history books," he said.
He had also aimed to reach 1,000 on the next day. "Why not? I am confident that I can do it. I will definitely try to score 1,000 runs as I am just 350 away. If I can score 600 runs in two sessions, I am confident of scoring 350 in one session," Pranav said.
Now the impossible dream is reality.
