The 17-year-old Prithvi Shaw, who has been in scintillating form, has once again proved his mettle by scoring a brilliant hundred against Orissa in a Ranji trophy game earlier today in Bhubaneswar.
Notably, this is the fourth first-class hundred slammed by Shaw in the five matches he has played. Shaw, with this hundred, is now behind only Sachin Tendulkar to score most centuries at 17 years of age. Shaw notched up a hundred in the first Duleep Trophy match he played earlier this season to become the youngest cricketer to achieve this feat.
Winning the toss, Orissa captain Govinda Poddar sent the touring Mumbai to bat first. Opening the innings, Shaw was fluent from the first ball as he played some delightful shots to bring on his hundred maintaining a healthy strike rate. He along with India batsman Ajinkya Rahane steadied the Mumbai innings stitching a useful partnership of 136 runs before Basant Mohanty got Shaw plumb in front of the wicket at the individual score of 105 runs with the help of 18 boundaries. Ajinkya Rahane who was included in the Mumbai squad had a good start but couldn’t get going as he got out for 49 runs.
The junior India selectors picked him as the u-19 captain for the England tour keeping his mind his brilliant form. He had a fair stint against the English side scoring some useful runs for his team at the top of the order. However, he was axed from the u-19 side touring Malaysia for the Asia after discussing with India u-19 coach Rahul Dravid to give him an extended run in the longest format which is paying a dividend now.
The cricketer from Mumbai was also picked up by the national selectors to represent the Board President XI, who played two matches against the touring Kiwi side before the start of the tour. He played a magnificent knock of 66 runs against a good bowling attack which earned him praise from the opponent team fast-bowler Trent Bolt.