Mumbai: When Sachin Tendulkar walked out to bat for one last time, the two onfield umpires had joined the West Indies team to form a guard of honour.
Young Prithvi Shaw, who was at the Wankhede Stadium to witness his idol's final innings, earned a similar reception when he smashed a record-shattering 546 off only 330 balls in a Harris Shield match on Wednesday.
After the day's play at the Baronet CC pitch at Azad Madian, an on field umpire kept busy all day by young Shaw, who forced him to signal 85 boundaries and five sixes, popped out a mobile phone and got his picture clicked with the run-machine probably for posterity.
Unbeaten on 257 runs overnight, the ninth standard student of Rizvi Springfield High School plundered 207 runs in just the morning session as St. Francis D'Assisi, debutants in the elite division watched in awe.
Prithvi broke the previous highest score of 498 by his school-mate Armaan Jaffer in Giles Shield tournament in 2010. He is now the third highest run-scorer in world if one goes by all the registered scorecards available.
A prodigious talent, the attacking right-hander had struck three centuries in last ten 10 days, including the one in the competitive A division of Kanga League. He has scored 4000 runs in last three years across different formats.
The 14-year-old while dedicating his knock to his father Pankaj said he just wanted to keep it simple. “My coach had given me the freedom to play my natural attacking game. This morning I did not set any targets.
I played the ball on its merit.“
It was during lunch that he was named the captain of the Mumbai U-16 side but like his score, the news too was not conveyed to him. “I had told them to not tell me my score. I realized I had scored 500 only when they shouted and screamed.“
Coach Raju Pathak, who has shaped the careers of many Mumbai and Indian batsman too could not hide his emotions.
“Even I did not realize how he smashed 200 in a session. My only advise to him is to stay on the wicket. He loves to attack and I am not going to change his style.“ An emotional father said it was just the start of a long journey. “He has shown he is talented. He is now the captain too. A lot will depend on how he conducts himself,“ he added.
