‘Prithvi always batted like this’
MUMBAI: Those long, crushing train commutes from far flung suburbs to the maidans of Mumbai finally paid off for Prithvi Shaw when he became the youngest Indian to score a century on debut on Thursday.
At 18 years and 329 days, Prithvi realised his dream of playing for India and impressed everyone with his positive approach during his innings of 134 (154 balls).
One thing those who have seen him over the years playing cricket in Mumbai, vouch for is his fearless attitude and his natural instinct to play attacking cricket.
“As an 18-year-old he has no baggage to carry. He has shown tremendous potential and is matured way beyond his years,” said ex-india captain, Dilip Vengsarkar, who was the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) vicepresident when Prithvi broke into the Mumbai side last year. After his innings against the Caribbean outfit, Vengsarkar feels that he should be India’s firstchoice opener when India tours Australia and urged the MSK Prasad-led selection committee to show “faith in his ability”.
Milind Rege, who headed the Mumbai selection committee at that time, said: “What impressed me the most was that he wasn’t afraid to play shots. He was different from the others.”
He added: “I spoke to Rahul Dravid about Prithvi. He told me to take a chance as he has all the requisites.”
Chandrakant Pandit, under whom Prithvi made his Mumbai debut, is happy with the fact that he hasn’t changed his approach. “What I liked about him was the way he was batting today. He used to bat in similar fashion as a 12-13 year-old when I was the Director of the MCA Academy,” said Pandit, who guided Vidarbha to Ranji title last season. He added: “Some players change their approach when they play at a higher level but Prithvi has maintained the same.” Current Mumbai coach Vinayak Samant, too, echoed similar views. “He is a player who will back his natural game, which is to attack. He is like (Virender) Sehwag, always attacking.”
Samant, like Vengsarkar, is of the opinion that Prithvi will surely open for India against Australia. “There are very few players like him who can score run-aball. He is in the form of his life.”
His school coach, Raju Pathak, remembers his early steps in the game. “His father had brought him to me when he was in the third standard. He was really short at that time and on first day he told me ‘I will face the big guys’. I told him to start with the smaller kids. But after watching him play a couple of balls, I sent him to face the bigger boys. I knew at that moment he was a special talent,” said the coach of Rizvi Springfield, Prithvi’s school.
Pathak added, “Right since his younger days he knew where he went wrong and always rectified his mistakes. He used to like playing in the air through point but when he realised that he is getting out too often, he stopped playing that shot.”