Pranav Dhanawade: 15-year-old schoolboy becomes first batsman to score over 1,000 runs

The teenager hit 59 sixes and 129 fours, with a strike-rate of 312.38

Pranav Dhanawade celebrates his incredible innings

An Indian schoolboy has made headlines worldwide after becoming the first batsmen to score 1,000 runs in a single innings.

Pranav Dhanawade, 15-years-old, rewrote cricket’s record books with a momentous innings of 1,009 not out while playing for KC Gandhi School in a match officially recognised by the Mumbai Cricket Association against Arya Gurukal School.

In total, the teenager hit 59 sixes and 129 fours, with a strike-rate of 312.38. The previous record score of 628 not out, achieved by 13-year-old AEJ Collins in 1899, was beaten by Dhanawade on Monday, after he reached 652 off just 199 balls.

His father Prashant, who works as a rickshaw driver in Mumbai, watched his son’s innings and expressed his great pride to the gathered media after KC Gandhi’s declaration on 1,465-3.

“I don’t know what to say but I feel proud that my son has achieved this,” he told DNA India.

“Pranav is getting non-stop calls from the media and relatives. He has not even had time to talk to his mother. She is keenly waiting for him to return home.”

“I was nervous throughout but was just happy to see my son batting,” he later told the Hindustan Times. “There’s a lot of talent in our area but we lack proper facilities for children to play and get trained.

“For this reason, when Pranav turned nine, I enrolled him for coaching at MIG in Bandra. I would drive my rickshaw in the morning and then we’d leave for MIG in the afternoon and return at night.”

Dhanawade himself spoke to the Hindustan Times on Monday and claimed the record was always secondary to winning the game for his team.

“When I started I never thought about breaking the record. The focus was never that. I just played my natural game, which is to attack from the word go,” he said.

Mumbai school cricket is notoriously competitive and has produced some of India’s most talented players, including the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, who made his debut for the national team aged just 16 years old and 205 days.