Vengsarkar, Dravid played crucial roles in Prithvi Shaw's inclusion

MUMBAI: A few years ago, a boy not taller than four feet, would be watched by a special pair of eyes as he tonked the ball at the nets of the MCA ground in BKC. Those eyes were of none other than batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, who was clearly impressed by what he was seeing in the making.On Thursday, before he walked out to bat after failing in his first innings, against Tamil Nadu in the Ranji Trophy semifinal at Rajkot, Prithivi Shaw received the sort of 'pep talk' which made the 17-year-old believe that he just couldn't fail. "Tendulkar sent a message to me this morning for Prithvi. 'Wish all the best on my behalf to Prithvi. This is a big opportunity. Ask him to score a hundred.' I showed this message to the youngster. He gave me a smile, and said: 'Definitely'," Mumbai coach Chandrakant Pandit told TOI from Rajkot on Thursday.The latest batting sensation from Mumbai lived up to the promise he made to the great man, who was following the match from his home in Bandra, at cracking a match-winning 120 on his First Class debut to take the defending champions to the another Ranji final.In a season which has seen a couple of promising batting talents (Armann Jaffer and Jai Bista, to be precise) from the Ranji giants failing to come good, Prithvi's successful 'launch' has stood out like gold. The opener's solid hundred has also solved Mumbai's headache with the opening problem, which has seen them turn to youth, and then experience (Kautubh Pawar and Kevin Almeida) in vain.The decision to select the young turk at this stage of the tournament was a brave one, but Mumbai chief selector Milind Rege was convinced about it after greats like Rahul Dravid (his India Under-19 coach) and Dilip Vengsarkar spoke positively about him. "When I spoke to Dravid about him, he said that 'he's a very good player. He's got all the promise. The only thing is that he looks to accelerate his batting, but he's a young man. He's a technically solid. So yes, I think you should go ahead with him. He's a good prospect.' Dilip also called me to consider Prithvi. I took this further up in the selection committee, and with Pandit. So, I consulted these two former legends of them before we picked him. Dilip has always taken interest in our selection. I also seek his guidance in what we should do," Rege said.It was a conversation with Dravid, in fact, which prompted Vengsarkar to 'bat' for the teenaged batsman. "He's good. He would give an excellent start to Mumbai. He's ready for Ranji Trophy. I'd definitely pick him. He tries to hit the ball too hard, but I've spoken to him about that," Dravid is believed to have told the 116-Test veteran.Pandit too praised Vengsarkar and Rege for the courageous call. Many felt that Prithvi was too 'raw' for the big occasion and may get 'exposed.' "That's the confidence and vision of Vengsarkar. He suggested his name to us. Rege picked him confidently after listening to Vengsarkar. We thought about giving him an opportunity because he was a man in form. We were struggling with opening stand. Mumbai always believes in giving exposure to youngsters. Rege thought about that suggestion and picked him," Pandit revealed.The coach was all praise for Prithvi's fabulous effort. "He batted fearlessly. He was positive. He never looked that he was playing his first game of First Class cricket. He showed a lot of hunger in him to score runs. His innings was calculated. He has a good future, and looked confident," the coach gushed.After he was out for four in the first innings, Pandit helped the explosive talent get over that disappointment. "I gave an example to him about how the great Sunil Gavaskar would play at the start of his innings. I about how you can handle the new ball initially. I asked him to observe a senior like Abhishek Nayar, how he started his innings. Why he's doing, how he's getting his first 10-15 runs. Then I made him write certain points about what are his observations about the match. I wanted him to express his observations. I was trying to explain to him how to approach the game. I told him about how he should prepare for his batting. He looked confident," Pandit said.