Mumbai include Prithvi for Ranji semis

MUMBAI: In a brave move, the Mumbai selectors on Wednesday picked talented teenaged opener Prithvi Shaw, who was recently a part of the India Under-19 team which clinched the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka, for the defending champions’ semifinal encounter against Tamil Nadu from January 1 in Rajkot. Shaw, who scored 191 runs in five games in Lanka where the India colts were being coached by batting legend Rahul Dravid, shot into the limelight around three years back when as a 14-year-old, he smashed a then world record score of 546 (off merely 330 balls) for Rizvi Springfield in a Harris Shield match. It was the highest-ever score in inter-school cricket till Pranav Dhanawade slammed an unbeaten 1009 in January this year. Prithvi subsequently went on to bag a six-year deal worth Rs 36 lakhs with SG, whose cricketing equipment has been endorsed by the likes of Virender Sehwag and Dravid. Since that time, the prodigious talent has been managed with batting legend Sunil Gavaskar’s firm PMG. In 2013, Prithvi became the youngest player to be signed up by the Cricket Club of India (CCI). The 17-year-old plays for the Parkophene CC in local cricket. From 2012 to 2014, he went every year to England for exposure trips too. Having lost his mother early, Prithvi faced tough times in his childhood, as he had to travel all the way from Virar to Bandra to play and train at the MIG Club. At that time, Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Potnis extended a major helping hand to the budding cricketer by providing a flat to stay in nearby Santa Cruz. Informing that apart from Prithvi replacing Kevin Almeida, there was no other change in the team, Mumbai chief selector Milind Rege told TOI on Wednesday: “We’re going ahead with some younger people. He’s done well in the Asia Cup for the India U-19 team. If the other India Under-19 players have been blooded by their state teams, we too have to do it when there’s an opportunity, and he’s been amongst the runs all the time, so we can’t look the other way. “So far we were giving opportunities to people scoring runs in local cricket, but now we want to have a look at this young boy. It’s always a win-win situation. If he does well, good for us. We don’t go back from here, we look forward only. He’s in form, you see. However, we’ve left it to the team management to play him in the final XI.”With the BCCI keen on playing the knockouts on grassy wickets which test the batsmen, Prithvi will have his task cut out. Meanwhile, India batsmen Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, paceman Dhawal Kulkarni and opener Akhil Herwadkar continue to stay out due to injuries.