Even as Pranav Dhanawade was piling up runs by the second in faraway Kalyan, his exploits were reaching the other end of the city in no time.
"Pranav se zyaada banayega ye (he will make more than Pranav)," yelled Vaibhav Kalamkar, captain of Rizvi Sprinfield (Bandra) in jest as he cheered his teammate Yash Salunke batting against CNM (Juhu) in their Harris Shield encounter at Cross Maidan, Churchgate, on Tuesday.
Even as Pranav Dhanawade was piling up runs by the second in faraway Kalyan, his exploits were reaching the other end of the city in no time.
Dhanawade had already made news after scoring the highest-ever individual score – an unbeaten 652 off 199 balls – on Monday against Arya Gurukul School in the HT Bhandari Cup. And he was the talk of the town even on Tuesday, with kids at the city maidans constantly checking their mobile phones to keep a tab on his latest score.
"Sir, kitna banaya dekho na," asked an eager Al Barkat MMI student at the Azad Maidan. As their coach Nafeez Khan reached for his phone, he was surrounded by anxious students. "Just a matter of time," said Al Barkat bowler Rajesh Sardar.
At around 1 pm, when the word hazaar (thousand) reverberated across the maidans, there was a sense of joy among kids.
Among the 15-year-old's fans were the students of IES VN Sule Guruji (Dadar) who were playing Our Lady of Remedy (Kandivli). "The ground may be small. The other team might be weak. But he's scoring at almost four runs a ball. Everyone of us has played in buildings and colonies. Scoring at that rate is something no matter how small the ground is. It's just a case of sour grapes. Every reporter is in Kalyan instead of Cross Maidan and Azad Maidan today. He'll be on the front page tommorow. Who won't feel jealous," said Dhruv Vedak.
Anjuman-I-Islam Allana English's skipper Saif Shaikh Mohammad was another who couldn't stop singing Dhanawade's praises. "Everyone's seen the scoresheet on their phone and it's crazy what he's done. More than the batting scores, the bowling figures tell you more of the story. He didn't spare anyone it seems. I don't know how weak the opposition was or how small were the pitch dimensions but as a batsman I can tell you that batting for two days straight requires a lot of temperament and patience."
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