The entire day has belonged to one particular Indian individual, who has made the entire sporting circle turn heads. We are talking of 15-year-old Pranav Dhanawade.
The teenager scored 1,009 runs and remained undismissed in just an innings during a Bhandari Cup match, shattering every single cricket record possible. Pranav made the jaw-dropping score in just 323 ballss, blasting 59 sixes and 129 boundaries along the way.
The Bhandari Cup is an inter-school cricket tournament organised by the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA). Pranav scored the knock for KC Gandhi School in Kalyan, Thane, against Arya Gurukul School on Monday.
Sporting greats and pundits including Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and Alan Wilkins more took to Twitter to heap praise on the young sensation throughout Tuesday. However, what we wanted the most was to hear from the young man himself.
Speaking about his out-of-the-world knock, Pranav, whose father drives an auto-rickshaw, said he consumed only a glass of milk before going out to bat.
"I drank only one glass of milk when I went out to bat," he told NDTV. "I am very happy to break the record of Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli, and I want to emulate Sachin Tendulkar. He is my idol." Pranav dreams of representing the Indian senior cricket team someday.
He also thanked the Maharashtra government, who announced they would cover all expenses for his cricket coaching and education henceforth.
"I am happy that Sachin congratulated me. My parents are feeling proud of me," Pranav added.
Dhoni, meanwhile, said on Tuesday it wasn't an easy feat by any means for the youngster. "Not a joke to score so many runs. It's serious business in any conditions," the 2011 World Cup-winning captain said.
"He must be a very special kid. I would have gotten bored. He's calculating his batting. It is something that is very rare," Dhoni was quoted by NDTV as saying.
