Arya Gurukul school’s coach lauds Pranav but rues missed chances

Arya Gurukul School’s coach Yogesh Jagtap lauded Pranav Dhanawade for his record-breaking knock but rued missed chances.

“Pranav is a good cricketer. I had played with him last year and know that he is a good batsman. But I never imagined such a huge knock from him. I was tracking the kid’s performance and I am sure we dropped 22 catches and missed three stumpings that did not help our cause. I am pleased with our ground fielding though,” Mr Jagtap said.

Mr Jagtap said that they had to field largely U-12 team in the game as Class 10 students were not available. “We got the intimation about this tournament quite late and had to field U-12 team as Class 10 boys were not available. It was a good learning experience for them. They did not lose hope and kept fighting till the end. The ground also wasn’t big, as per Under-16 standards but it was understandable as no other option was available at short notice,” he added.

However, Akash Singh (173) and Siddhesh Patil (137) who were involved separately in 500-run partnerships with Pranav said he got nine chances. “He was dropped seven times and stumpings were missed twice,” said the duo. “Our job was to give him strike and complement him well. We were also tracking world records on the phone once he crossed 400 yesterday and accordingly pumping him to go,” they added.