India Vs West Indies, 1st Test: Prodigious Prithvi Shaw Becomes Youngest Indian To Hit Century On Debut

Prodigious Prithvi Shaw on Thursday made history by becoming the youngest Indian and fourth overall to hit a century on debut as India dominated the West Indies on the opening day of 1st Test at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot.

Shaw, 18 years and 329 days old, reached the hundred with a  double off the second ball of the 33rd over, bowled by Keemo Paul. He took 99 balls to reach the hundred. In the previous, he hit Shannon Gabriel for back-to-back fours to race to 98. Then, he took a single off the first ball of the 32nd over to reach 99.

He thus broke Abbas Ali Baig's record. In 1959, Baig, then 20 years and 131 days, hit 112 against England at Old Trafford. It was also the first hundred by an Indian debutant outside India.

The record for centurion on Test debut belongs to Bangladesh's Mohammad Ashraful, who hit 114 against Sri Lanka in 2001. He was only 17 years 63 days.

Zimbabwe's Hamilton Masakadza is the second youngest to do so. Masakada was 17 years and 354 days when he scored 119 against West Indies at Harare in July 2001. He held the record for only two months though.

Pakistan's Salim Malik scored an unbeaten 100 on debut against Sri Lanka at Karachi in 1982. He was 18years and 323 days then.

But the record for youngest Indian at the time of maiden Test still belongs to Sachin Tendulkar, who scored an unbeaten 119 against England at Manchester in 1990. He was only 17 years and 107 days old.

Earlier in the morning, the Mumbai batsman became the youngest Indian to score a Test half-century on debut, again breaking Baid's record.

Shaw also became the youngest Test opener for India. The record previously belonged to Vijay Mehra, who was 17 years and 265 days, when opened against New Zealand at Mumbai in 1955.

India captain Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat first. But the hosts lost opener KL Rahul in the very first over, trapped LBW by Gabriel. Then, Shaw and local player Cheteshwar Pujara took the attack on the Windies.

At the time of filing the report, India were 176/1 after 32.4 overs with Shaw and Pujara unbeaten on 102 and 68 respectively. They have already posted a 173-run unbeaten stand for the second wicket.

Here are five things to know about the talented batsman:

1. The only other ‘Shaw’ to play Test cricket was England’s Alfred Shaw. Yes, the one who delivered the first ever ball in Test cricket on March 15, 1877, against Australia.

2. Prithvi Shaw became the second youngest player, Sachin Tendulkar, to score a century for Mumbai, achieving the feat on his Ranji debut at the age of 17.

3. Prithvi Shaw once hit 546 (a national record) for Rizvi Springfield against St Francis D’Assisi in an inter-school match in Harris Shield. He smashed 85 fours and five sixes.

4. Shaw, at 17 years and 320 days, became the second youngest player to score a hundred in the Duleep Trophy, breaking Tendulkar's record, again. Byt the way, he has hit hundreds on debut in Ranji, Duleep and Test.

5. He captained India win the U-19 World Cup title in 2018. He scored 261 runs in six matches, becoming the highest run-scorer among Indian captains in the tournament’s history.