Prithvi Shaw became the 293rd cricketer to play for India in Test matches when he was handed his debut in the first match of the series against West Indies in Rajkot on Thursday. The 18-year-old, who lead India to the 2018 ICC U-19 World Cup title, opened the batting with KL Rahul and in the process, became the second youngest batsman to make his debut for India since Sachin Tendulkar. Here’s 10 things to know about India’s latest Test debutant -
Prithvi Shaw (18 years 329 days) will become India’s second youngest opener after Vijay Mehra, who was 17 years 265 days at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium against New Zealand in December 1955.
Among just batsmen, Prithvi Shaw is the second youngest to make his debut for India since Sachin Tendulkar. Overall, Shaw is the fourth youngest batsman (excluding wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel.
Overall, Prithvi Shaw became be the 13th youngest Indian cricketer to play a Test match.
The only other ‘Shaw’ to play Test cricket was England’s Alfred Shaw, who had the distinction of delivering the first ever ball in Test cricket on March 15, 1877.
Prithvi Shaw created a national record, hitting 546 playing for Rizvi Springfield against St Francis D’Assisi in an inter-school match for the prestigious Harris Shield. The youngster smashed 85 boundaries and five sixes and in the process, he became the first schoolboy cricketer to hit a 500 plus score in an official inter-school match.
Prithvi Shaw led India lifted to the U-19 World Cup title in 2018. As skipper, he scored 261 runs in 6 matches, becoming the highest run-scorer among Indian captains in the tournament’s history. He surpassed Unmukht Chand’s tally of 246 runs in the 2012 edition of the tournament.
Prithvi Shaw became the second youngest player – after Sachin Tendulkar – to score a century for Mumbai, achieving the feat on his Ranji debut at the age of 17.
Prithvi Shaw impressed with his performances in the 2018 Indian Premier League (IPL) as he finished the edition with 245 runs in 9 innings at a strike rate in excess of 150 for Delhi Daredevils.
At 17 years and 320 days, Prithvi Shaw became the second youngest player to score a three-figure mark in the Duleep Trophy with the record once again belonging to Sachin Tendulkar.
Sachin Tendulkar was all praise for the youngster and this is what the Master Blaster had to say about Prithvi Shaw - “Ten years ago, one of my friends asked me to take a look at a young Prithvi. He asked me to analyse his game and see if there anything he could work on. I had a session with him and gave couple of pointers on how to improve his game. I told my friend later that he is going to go on and play for India.”