Forget a ton, how about a grand? 15-year-old Pranav Dhanawade crosses 1,000 runs at inter-school match

Mumbai 15-year-old Pranav Dhanawade entered the record books as he set a new world record when he blasted 1009 not out from 323 balls during the HT Bhandari Cup inter-school cricket tournament organised by the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), yesterday. Opening the batting for Smt KC Gandhi School, Kalyan, Pranav scored 1009 not out off just 323 balls against Arya Gurukul school. The Kalyan boy wreaked havoc as he smashed 129 fours and 59 sixes en route the world record at the Union Cricket Club ground.

Pranav Dhanawade....
Runs - 1009*
Balls - 323
Mins - 395
S/R - 312.38
Sixes - 59
Fours - 129
His school KC Gandhi HS declared @ 1465

— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) January 5, 2016

[caption id=“attachment_2570766” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Pranav Dhanawade. Twitter[/caption] Pranav’s epic innings means that he now holds the record for the highest individual score in any form of representative cricket, bettering AEJ Collins’ 628 not out for for Clark’s House against North Town in Clifton College in 1899 in the UK. Arya Gurukul’s miseries just compounded after they were bundled out for a paltry 31 in their first innings. Pranav’s record-breaking feat propelled his team to a mammoth 1465, after which they declared, in the two-day school league and two of his teammates — Akash Singh and Siddhesh Patil — also scored tons. The 15-year-old was delighted that his heroics arrived in presence of his father — Prashant — an autorickshaw driver who amidst financial constraints, put in a lot of hard work to support Pranav’s cricket. “I want my son to become a great cricketer. He has proved that he has the talent today. Cricket is not an easy sport and expensive too. I spent extra hours driving an autorickshaw in order to afford the cricket gear for my son,” Prashant told The Indian Express. Previously, Mumbai boy Prithvi Shaw held the record for the highest score by an Indian batsman in minor cricket when he hit 546 for Rizvi Springfield against St Francis in the Harris Shield in 2013-14. Two other Mumbai boys Sarfaraz Khan (498) and Armaan Jaffer (498) had captured the headlines with massive scores playing in Harris Shield matches in 2009 and 2010. They are a part of the U-19 World Cup side that will travel to Bangladesh this month. Earlier, Pranav said he was motivated to break the records set by the Sarfaraz, Armaan and Prithvi and was confident that he will reach the 1,000-run mark. At the end, he did. “Once I reached 350, I was determined that I had to break those records. I had heard about the three of them, and how they made it to the history books,” Pranav told DNA. “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,” he added. Click here for the Indian Express report. Click here for the DNA report.