PRITHVI, 18, MAKES ROARING DEBUT
Is fourth youngest to score a ton on debut, powers India to 364/4 vs WI
Teenage sensation Prithvi Shaw announced his arrival in topflight cricket by becoming the youngest Indian to score a Test century on debut, headlining the home team’s march to 364 for four against West Indies on day one of the series-opener here.
At 18 years and 329 days, Shaw reached the milestone off just 99 balls, adding to a host of records he holds in his blossoming career.
Shaw (134 off 154) and Cheteshwar Pujara (86 off 130) laid the foundation for a big score with a 206-run partnership after the early loss of K L Rahul (0). Prithvi Shaw celebrates his century for India on Day 1 of the first international Test match against West Indies in Rajkot on Thursday.
RAJKOT: When Sachin Tendulkar was exiting international cricket after playing his last Test series — against West Indies in 2013 — little did the Calypso Kings know that there was a 14-year-old from Mumbai who would become their tormentor in the years to come. Five years after Prithvi Shaw struck 546 in a minor cricket competition, within days of Tendulkar calling it a day in 2013, the Mumbai batsman emerged a potential successor to the legendary batsman’s legacy on Thursday, smashing 134 on Test debut. The 18-year-old Shaw, one of the architects of India’s title triumph in the U-19 World Cup last year, marched into the annals of Test history, becoming the fourth youngest batsman to score a century on debut, powering the home team to 364/4 at stumps on Day One of the opening Test against the West Indies.
Shaw, who could be the answer to India’s opening woes, did what was expected of him, and aided by Cheteshwar Pujara’s 86 and Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 72, India look set for a mammoth total. While Shaw gave full respect to West Indies’ in-form bowler Shannon Gabriel, he treated with disdain the other bowlers who drifted outside off or targeted his pads. On a hot day at the SCA stadium, he showed his dexterity by playing some delectable strokes both on the front and back-foot. Call it the exuberance of youth, or having endured the energy sapping Mumbai heat day in, day out for years, Shaw continued to swat the Windies bowlers in the punishing Rajkot heat, even as his senior partner Pujara kept small water bottles in his pockets to rehydrate himself.
West Indies threw everything they had in their arsenal at Shaw, but the young batsman remained unflustered. Making the most of the docile track, and a bowling attack that lacked sting, Shaw played his repertoire of strokes, cutting through point, hammering the ball through covers, playing delicate leg-side flicks, straight drives, and the most morale-crushing stoke for a bowler — the lofted bottom-handed shot over the head.
Shaw’s innings had 19 boundaries, the first seven helping him reach his 50 off 56 balls, while the next eight, hit off the next 43 balls, brought up his maiden ton.
Such was Shaw’s aura on Thursday that Pujara had to alter his batting style to keep pace with his young counterpart. On Thursday, Pujara had a healthy strike rate of 66, much higher than his scoring rate during the fourth Test against England at Southampton.
A marathon innings of 235 minutes came to an end when Shaw committed his only mistake on Thursday. Shaw looked to work a Devendra Bishoo delivery on the off-side but the ball seemingly stopped, giving the bowler the easiest 0of catches.
Shaw’s dismissal brought Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane together in the middle, and the pair began on a positive note adding 105 runs after Shaw and Pujara had set the tone with their 206-run stand. Kohli made his 20th Test fifty.
The Windies didn’t have much going for them after Jason Holder missed the Test due to an ankle injury.