Indian teenager draws praise from cricket legend Tendulkar after epic unbeaten 1,009

Pranav Dhanawade, 15, smashed 129 fours and struck 59 sixes in his staggering 323-ball knock played over two days before his team, KC Gandhi School, declared their innings on 1,465 for two.

Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar attends an event where he was announced UNICEF ambassador for South Asia, in Mumbai, India, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2013. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

Agencies

Maharashtra schoolboy Pranav Dhanawade rewrote the record books yesterday, hammering an epic 1,009 not out in an inter-school cricket tournament in India to register the highest individual score in an innings in any form of the game.

The 15 year old smashed 129 fours and struck 59 sixes in his staggering 323-ball knock played over two days before his team, KC Gandhi School, declared their innings on 1,465 for two.

An admirer of India’s limited-overs captain MS Dhoni, Dhanawade’s monumental knock drew praise from batting great Sachin Tendulkar.

“Well done and work hard. You need to scale new peaks!” tweeted the former India captain.

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Dhanawade, who opened the innings against Arya Gurukul School, had gone past Arthur Collins’s 628 not out, the previous highest in minor cricket, scored in 1899 in England, on Monday.

The son of an autorickshaw driver, Dhanawade had also gone past the highest individual score by an Indian in minor cricket, a record previously held by Prithvi Shaw who scored 546 in the Harris Shield in 2013/14.

“I have always been a big-hitter,” Dhanawade told the Hindustan Times after Monday’s play.

“When I started I never thought about breaking the record. The focus was never that. I just played my natural game, which is to attack from the word go.

“After reaching 300, my coach Harish Sharma told me to play on. I did not know of the world record, but we had the Indian record in mind.”

Their opponents, Arya Gurukul, had been bowled out earlier for just 31, according to the Press Trust of India.

Dhanawade’s innings occurred during the Bhandari Cup school tournament, which is officially recognised by the Mumbai Cricket Association.

Collins, who himself was born in India, was age 13 when he entered the record books for his score at Clifton College in Bristol, where a plaque honours his exploits.

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