Ranji Trophy: 17-year-old Prithvi Shaw slams century on debut, guides Mumbai into finals

Prithvi became the 13th batsmen overall for Mumbai, to hit a ton on his debut and join the illustrious list of players headed Sachin Tendulkar.

Courtesy: Facebook (Prithvi Shaw)

New Delhi: India has been oozing with talented cricketers, especially in the batting department off late. The 2016-17 Ranji Trophy season has been incredible with as many as five Indian youngsters scoring triple centuries and several others registering their names as first time centurions.

In the Ranji Trophy semi-final between Mumbai and Tamil Nadu, 17-year-old Prithvi Shaw made his first class debut for the defending champions and ascertained the selectors of his value by registering his maiden century.

Prithvi became the 13th batsmen overall for Mumbai to hit a ton on his debut and join the illustrious list of players which also includes batting great Sachin Tendulkar.

Khanderao Rangnekar, Madhav Dalvi have been the youngest to secure a 100 on debut after Tendulkar. But now, 17-year-old Shaw has lined up himself right behind the Little Master on second place. Tendulkar scored a hundred as a 15-year-old.

The opener shared a 90-run opening stand with Praful Waghela and a 91-run partnership with Shreyas Iyer for the second wicket en route to securing their Ranji Trophy final ticket for Mumbai.

As goes the popular saying, 'fortune favours the brave', Shaw handed a catch at backward point while batting on 99 but survived as ball was called no-ball after the umpire went up-stairs to see if it was a fair delivery by Vijay Shankar.

Shaw was drafted into Mumbai's squad for the semi-final against Tamil Nadu. He had an experience of five matches for the Indian Under-19 team that won the Youth Asia Cup last month.

Aged 17 years and 57 days, Shaw scored 120 off 175 deliveries in the second innings. Shaw took 152 deliveries to reach the landmark as Mumbai entered its 46th Ranji Trophy final, and are looking for their 42nd title.

The other finalist for the title clash will be Gujarat. The Parthiv Patel-led outfit defeated Jharkhand in their semi-finals inside four days to make their second final apperance.

The title clash will take place at Indore's Holkar Stadium, starting January 10.