After years of dwelling train grind and piles of runs in the first-class circle, Prithvi Shaw on Thursday became the 293rd Indian player to earn a Test cap.
Here’s a look at Prithvi Shaw’s illustrious career so far:
The 18-year-old Mumbaikar received his Test cap from skipper Virat Kohli ahead of the first Test against West Indies at Rajkot. Shaw will open alongside KL Rahul in the series opener. With 14 First-class matches, Shaw became the second least-experienced Indian to make his Test debut behind Sachin Tendulkar, who had played just nine First-class matches before his debut.
Test Cap No. 293: @PrithviShaw's dream come true moment #INDvWI pic.twitter.com/cPMiR1tLwW
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 4, 2018
A 14-year-old Prithvi Shaw had set Mumbai’s school cricket on fire after a marathon 546-run innings off 330 balls, studded with 85 fours and five sixes in a Harris Shield tournament and shared a 619-run partnership with Satyalaksh Jain (164) for the second wicket. This was the very tournament in which Sachin Tendulkar (326*) and Vinod Kambli (349*) stitched a whopping 664-run partnership.
Prithvi Shaw soon cemented his place in Mumbai’s colts and at 17 made his Ranji Trophy debut in a crunch semifinal match against Tamil Nadu in 2017. Chasing a target of 251-runs a valiant Shaw, who could muster only four runs in the first innings, hit a scintillating century (120 off 175 balls), ensuring Mumbai a place in the final. Shaw became the youngest ever player (at 17 years and 153 days) to smash a century in a Ranji knockout game.
The firebrand opener followed his Ranji exploits with a century on debut (154 off 249 balls) in the Duleep Trophy final and shared a 211-run partnership with India Red skipper Dinesh Karthik (111 off 115 balls). Shaw became the youngest to score a Duleep Trophy hundred in a final and the second youngest behind Sachin Tendulkar (17 years 57 days) to score on debut.
Shaw went on to score five centuries in the space of seven first-class games to become the second Indian behind Sachin Tendulkar with more first-class centuries (7) before turning 18.
With 1418 runs in 14 first-class matches, Shaw has an impressive average of 56.72 and seven centuries, five half-tons to his name.
In February, Shaw lead India to win the ICC U19 World Cup in New Zealand and eight months later he gears up to open for India in whites.
