Pranav, 15, hits a record 1,009 runs!

[Jaswinder Singh Baidwan]

It was the summer of June 2006 when a six-year-old kid stepped into the Modern Cricket Club Academy in Kalyan, Mumbai, to spend his vacation picking up the finer nuances of the game.
Ten years later, Pranav Dhanawade smashed an unbeaten 1009 off 327 deliveries in HT Bhandari Cup inter-school tournament to notch up the highest individual score in minor cricket, breaking a 117-year-old record.
Dhanawade hit 129 fours and 59 sixes in his innings against Arya Gurukul Public School in a two-day league match, organised by the MCA at the Vaylengar ground in Kalyan.
An opening batsman for Smt. KC Gandhi School, Kalyan, Dhanawade scored 870 runs in boundaries, thus ensuring an innings and 1,362-run win for his school after Arya Gurukul boys were out for 72 runs in their second innings, having made 31 in their first essay.
Pranav, who began the day on 652 (off 199 balls), had already broken the world record of Arthur Collins on the first day, surpassing his unbeaten 628-run mark for Clark's House against North Town in 1899 in the UK. He had also broken the record for the highest individual score by an Indian cricketer in minor cricket, held by Prithvi Shaw (546 in the Harris Shield, 2013-14). He reached 921 by the lunch and went past the 1000-run mark in the second session before his team declared the first innings at 1465/3, another world record in school cricket. His school went past Victoria’s 1,107 scored against New South Wales in 1926.
Coach Mobin Sheikh told The Tribune that an advice from legend Sachin Tendulkar helped him in bringing discipline to his game. “Pranav used to play with Tendulkar's son Arjun for the MIG Club in Dadar for three years (2009-2012). Pranav and Arjun were part of the club's Under-12 team. Tendulkar saw Dhanawade batting at the nets and told him to improve his footwork and patience. That advice really changed his mindset," Sheikh said.
“When he first came to my academy, he was a very naughty boy. So, I decided to make him a wicketkeeper as this way he would be stationed at one place. But, his stint with MIG Club and the kind of training provided by the coaches there actually helped him a lot. Mine is a small academy with around 40 kids but, the MIG Club had a proper Under-12 team with good coaching facilities, so it worked in his favour. After their age group team was dismantled, he returned to my academy in 2013, as a refined cricketer. Last year, he had a score of 175 and two centuries in the school tournaments,” added the 50-year-old.
Pranav's father is an autorickshaw driver, while mother is a housewife.
“This one is for my parents and my coaches. I idolise MS Dhoni and would like to become a wicketkeeper-batsman like him one day,” he said. “When I scored 300, I was told by the coach that you should look to break Shaw's record. Once I crossed it, I set my eyes on Collin's score of 628. After that, it was all about how much I could hang on,” he added.