Mumbai’s 15-year-old Prithvi Shaw slams record 546 in Harris Shield

MUMBAI: Batting prodigy Prithvi Shaw made heads turn and with it history pages on Wednesday with a knock of 546 in a Harris Shield match between his school Rizvi Springfield and St. Francis D’Assisi — the first 500-plus score in school cricket.
Resuming his innings from overnight 257* in just 166 balls, Shaw went onto complete the quintuple century which included 85 boundaries and 5 sixes. St. Francis D’Assisi managed just 92 in their first innings.
The 15-year-old right-hander is one of the most promising talents on the 22-yards. Prithvi is also captain of the Mumbai under-16 team.
His innings of 546 came in 367 minutes and took 330 balls. He scored 85 fours and five sixes on the way to breaking Armaan Jaffer’s previous Harris Shield record of 498.
According to an earlier Times of India report, Shaw has already played in England for the Gloucestershire second team, which is just below the first-class team.
The previous highest score by an Indian in any cricket was 515 by Dadabhoy Havewala for BB and CI Railway vs St. Xavier’s College at Bombay during 1933-34 season.
One of the first people to recognized Prithvi’s potential and predicted his rise is Julian Wood — a former English county cricketer and the founder JW cricket academy.
“Five years ago, we were playing a match at the MIG. They put him to bat and he scored 73 against us and I said this is a very, very special boy. I met his father and I told him I will sponsor him. You don’t see talent like that everyday at such a young age. I told him he should come to England one day,” said Wood a few months ago.
Despite trying to get Prithvi a stint in England for a couple of years, it was not until eight months back that Wood succeeded. Prithvi has played for English county club Gloucestershire’s second team, which is just below first-class cricket.
It was not the first time the teenager has played in England as he spent three months in Manchester last year.
“I am a professional and when I see talent I know it. If he keeps up the work, in five years he will arguably be the best batsman in the world,” Wood had said.