Prithvi Shaw dedicates his first Test century to his father

10/04/2018

Prithvi Shaw has dedicated his first Test century to his father for his exemplary contribution and sacrifice to make him what he is today. Shaw scored a fine century at Rajkot on debut and became the youngest Indian batsman and the second fastest Indian to score a century on debut.

It was a dream debut for the 18-year-old Prithvi Shaw who scored 134 runs off 154 balls which included 19 boundaries. In the process, he also became the youngest Indian player to make a Test debut with a century. However, in an interview after the end of the day’s play, he displayed a maturity beyond his age and dedicated the ton to his father.

“I was thinking about my Dad, as he has sacrificed a lot for me. First hundred, it's all for him”, Shaw said in an interview after the match.

The Indian team is without its shorter format openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, even though they performed exemplarily in the recently concluded Asia Cup. Rahul and Shaw opened for India but Rahul got out early for a duck and then Shaw and Pujara took control of the innings. Particularly, Shaw was timing the ball really well and reached his century in 99 balls.

“Feeling really good now, after the hundred. I was a bit nervous to start off but when I got in, I got comfortable. I just tried to play my natural game. I was just thinking that it's another game for me and then it just happened. I played the balls on merit and kept going from there on.

“Playing for India, it was a big thing for me. I wanted to make this chance count. It was a good challenge for me and I think I did well in front of these guys. From the smaller age I used to play a lot of school cricket, 30 or 35 school games in a year. I have played a lot of cricket in Ranji and it just keeps going on with so much cricket around. All that experience has helped me and I played my game accordingly”.

Though Shaw scored a century, he lost his wicket in the form of a soft dismissal. He was picked by the leg-spinner Devendra Bishoo who caught the ball off his own bowling and rued the dismissal after the stumps were drawn.

"The wicket was good and I should have kept batting. I should have been a bit careful as there were only 10 minutes left for the tea."