Pranav Dhanawade shatters all batting records with 1009*

Mumbai: Pranav Dhanawade became the toast of the nation today. Son of an auto-rickshaw driver in Kalyan, 15-year-old Mumbai school cricketer Pranav Dhanawade had one goal — to be a hard-hitting batsman and score a lot of runs.

On Tuesday, the dream finally came true as K.C. Gandhi High School student scored a world record-shattering innings of 1,009 not out in an H.T. Bhandari Cup Under-16 inter-school tournament match.

Pranav's epic 323-ball knock consisted of a staggering 59 sixes and 129 fours. His team, K.C. Gandhi High School, declared their innings at 1,465 for 6 with Pranav remaining unbeaten at 1,009.

He batted for 395 minutes and had a strike rate of 312.38. The youngster broke a 116-year-old record after surpassing 652 on Monday, thus taking over the reins of the highest individual score (including minor cricket) from A.E.J. Collins of England.

Following his feat, the teenager received congratulations from all quarters, starting from batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, Dhoni and Ajinkya Rahane among many others. Following his mind boggling innings, the Maharashtra Government announced that it will completely sponsor his cricket coaching.

The wicket-keeper batsman started playing cricket at the tender age of five at Modern Cricket Club under coach Mobin Sheikh and currently idolises India's limited-overs skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

The Class 10 student also participated in the Mumbai selection trials and accompanied his teammates from Kalyan to Churchgate for the matches.

( With inputs from IANS)