The stage was set. Selected ahead of regular openers Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay, the teenage batting sensation Prithvi Shaw justified his stature as one of Indian cricket’s growing stars as he smashed his way to an effortless, yet stylish hundred on debut against the West Indies on Thursday at the Saurashtra Cricket Stadium in Rajkot.
The young batsman at 18 years and 329 days thus becomes the youngest Indian to score a hundred on Test debut. Shaw, in his very first Test joins an elite list of 14 other Indians to have scored a century on Test debut which includes Lala Amarnath, Deepak Shodhan, AG Kripal Singh, Abbas Ali Baig, Hanumant Singh, Gundappa Vishwanath, Surender Amarnath, Mohammad Azharuddin, Pravin Amre, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma.
The prodigious right-hander has made an impact whenever he has been handed an opportunity. In domestic cricket for Mumbai, the opener has notched 1,418 runs in 14 first class outings at an impressive average of 56.71. He was picked to lead India in the U-19 World Cup in New Zealand with the veteran Rahul Dravid as his coach and he didn’t disappoint there as well. India dominated the entire competition and eventually ended as the winners of the coveted title.
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This hundred is thus a proper coming of age for the young man whose career has seemed to be on the rise from the very beginning. Already with his way to the Indian dressing room being eased by captain Virat Kohli who tried to make the youngster comfortable by communicating in Marathi, the stage was perfectly set for Shaw’s young yet brilliant career to have a full circle.
The young Shaw, who is the 30th teenager to represent India in Test cricket made this opportunity count and produced a masterclass of an innings. He is the fourth youngest to score a Test century on debut and the second after the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, who too had a similar beginning to his career with superlative shows with the bat earning him a place in the Indian side. A shot through to the covers fetched the magical three-figure mark in his very first outing for the senior Indian team. Batting on 102 off just 107 balls, he has hit 15 fours so far and with the way he is going, it might turn out to be a debut to be remembered for a long time to come.
Image Source: Twitter/BCCI