Harris Shield sees yet another mammoth score — 394 — and school coaches explain why such big numbers are being scored regularly
There's something about MSSA Harris Shield and high individual scores. Just as the brouhaha over Pranav Dhanawade's exhilarating score of 1009* in the MCA-organised HT Bhandari Cup seems to be dying down, Vaibhav Kalamkar of Rizvi Springfield scored 394 against St Annes High School on Wednesday.
While Kalamkar's score dwarfs in front of world record 1009*, the score is not that mammoth as compared to Dhanawade's, it points to a trend in the Harris Shield where scores of 300+, 400+ and 500+ are being achieved more regularly in the recent past.
Perhaps the historic 664-run partnership between Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli in 1988 being the first.
Then there was Sarfaraz Khan, who currently plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL), who scored 439 runs in 2009.
Armaan Jaffer, nephew of Mumbai veteran Wasim Jaffer, bettered Sarfaraz's record, scoring 498 in 2010.
Prithvi Shaw's 546 showed the world in 2013 that even 500 is breachable.
And then came Dhanawade's magnum opus this year. That raises the question — What is it with mammoth totals and Mumbai inter-school cricket?
Raju Pathak, coach of Rizvi Springfield for whom the three record-breaking batsmen — Sarfaraz, Armaan and Prithvi — played for, says the big runs are because of uneven competition.
"If you look at the league stage, you'll find plenty of high-scoring games. It's because some teams take their cricket more seriously. There's a reason why Rizvi are champions or reach the final of the Harris Shield almost every year. When we know that our opponent is weak, we allow our batsmen to play freely to get the experience. I do not think there's anything wrong with scoring big runs," he says.
The fact that 15-year-old Dhanawade's world record came against a team that was not of his age group and consisted of mainly under-14 players, has been talked about in social media and in cricket circles.
Pathak adds that individual scores helps the youngsters get picked for Mumbai team. He's says getting into limelight, by scoring record runs and getting featured in media, is a sure shot way of being noticed by the selectors.
"The Harris Shield trophy means a lot to a team, but what happens to an individual after he passes out from school? To announce yourself as a candidate for the Mumbai team, you have to score big. And that's why I think players go for individual scores. We coaches also don't mind letting a player go on scoring if we know we are going to win the match. We know that ultimately, that's what counts."
The coach of Al Barkaat Nafeez Khan, who is guiding the team as they defend the Harris Shield, says that the high scores are because of the advent of the Twenty20 cricket.
"It's not that people are making big scores only in recent times. Earlier, people used to stay at the crease for two days or more, but did not put up big numbers against their name.
"But according to me, the mindset has changed since T20 cricket has caught the fancy of youngsters. The players not only want to score big, but want to do so at a faster rate. Just look at Pranav's innings. His strike rate was 312.38. His innings included a total of 59 sixes and 129 fours. So you see what I mean when I say faster rate."
Coach of Digambar Patkar Vidyalaya Govind Koli says he believes that there needs to be some uniformity in the league so that the matches don't become one-sided.
"You don't see a player scoring such high scores in a semifinal of a final, do you? Of course, players are going to score big if their opponents are nowhere to their level. It's the responsibility of the organisers to ensure that this doesn't happen. They can have a lesser number of teams in the top division. That's the only way according to me."
Brief Scores: Rizvi Springfield High School 798/3 in 100 overs decl (Vaibhav Kalamkar 394, Sagar Chhabria 52, Yash Salunke 215*, Shoaib Siddique 110* vs St Annes High School 68/9 in 28.5 overs (Akash Yadav 4/12, Nabeel Aziz 24/3) & 10/2 in 8.3 overs
Other results: Al barkaat 428/5 decl. in 106 overs (Rohit Verma 167, Sumit Singh 102*) vs Matunga Premier 99/2 in 30 overs
Digambar Patkar Vidyalaya 142/10 in 80.3 overs Sumedh Kamble 140, Sahil Jadhav 83, Vaibhav Kamble 39; Aradhya Shinde 3/85) vs VN Sule Guruji (lead by 207 runs)
St Mary's High School (SSC), Mazagaon 175 all out (Chinmay Pathade 96, Sarvesh Jadhav 21) & 248/4 vs VMPS BRTOL High School 99 all out
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