When 15-year-old Pranav Dhanawade left home on Monday morning for his inter-school cricket match on an empty stomach, he didn't imagine that he will return with his appetite — albeit the one for runs— satiated many times over.
On Monday, the KC Gandhi English High School, Kalyan, 10th grade student broke all batting world records in minor cricket. He slammed an unbelievable 652 not out (in just 199 balls, 30x6, 78x4) against Arya Gurukul School, Kalyan on the opening day of the two-day third round match of the U-16 HT Bhandari Trophy Inter-School Cricket Tournament, organised under the aegis of Mumbai Cricket Association, on Monday.
He broke the highest individual score in an innings record held by an English cricketer AEJ Collins of 628* for Clark's House against North Town set in 1899. He also overhauled Mumbaikar Prithvi Shaw's record score of 546 for Rizvi Springfield High School against St Francis D'Assisi at Azad Maidan in 2013-14.
The opener's sextuple hundred saw his team reach a mammoth total of 956 for the loss of just one wicket in reply to Arya Gurukul's first innings score of 31 all out in 20 overs. The other three digit scorers for KC Gandhi school were Akash Singh (173) and Siddhesh Patil (100).
While the runs might have filled his heart, his stomach still yearned for something palatable. And after the day's play, Pranav was relaxing and feasting on snacks at his coach Mubin Shaikh's (Modern Cricket Club) residence in Kalyan with his proud father Prashant, an auto-rickshaw driver in the tow.
"He has got cramps after his mammoth innings," said Prashant. "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.
Till lunch, Pranav's score was 45 and he did no expect he will go on to add another 607 runs in the next two sessions.
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.
Pranav isn't done yet and aims to score 1,000 runs on the second 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.
Pranav comes from a humble background. He began playing his cricket at the age of five at Modern Cricket Club under Shaikh, a former wicket-keeper batsman. Pranav also participated in the Mumbai selection trials tournaments and travelled, with his teammates, all the way from Kalyan to Churchgate for the matches.
"He is a talented wicket-keeper batsman and a very hard working lad," said Shaikh about Pranav. "I did not ask him to pay the fee when he came to my club with his father. If he keeps doing well, he can definitely achieve higher goals," Shaikh said.
Arya Gurukul School coach Yogesh Jagtap was awestruck by Pranav's innings. "That was special. I have never seen something like this. Yes, the ground may be small like a Cross Maidan or he was dropped quite a few times by my players, but credit to him for the way he played," said Jagtap.
"The boys playing for my team were actually from U-14 and most of them playing for the first time. My U-16 team players who were supposed to participate could not come as the principal could not release them due to 10th exams. The boys were under prepared. In fact, such was the impact of his shots that they could not put hand to the ball," he added.
652
Number of runs Pranav scored in the inter-school tournaments
199
Number of balls that Pranav took to score the sextuple hundred
30
Number of sixes he hit in his record breaking innings
78
Number of boundaries Pranav hit in the marathon knock
956
Number of runs that KC Gandhi English School on Day One against Arya Gurukul School
