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Pranav Dhanawade

Pranav Dhanawade is an Indian cricketer from Kalyan, Maharashtra, who gained widespread recognition in January 2016 after scoring an unbeaten 1,009 runs in a single innings during a school cricket match. The score is widely regarded as the highest individual innings recorded in any form of organised cricket, surpassing a 116-year-old record held by English schoolboy A. E. J. Collins.

Full name Pranav Prakash Dhanawade
Known for Scoring 1,009 not out in a school cricket match (January 2016)
Born 1 June 2000
Birthplace Kalyan, Maharashtra, India
Batting style Right-handed
School K. C. Gandhi English School, Kalyan
Coach Mobin Sheikh
State association Mumbai Cricket Association

Background

Pranav Dhanawade was born and raised in Kalyan, a township in the Thane district of Maharashtra. His father, Prashant Dhanawade, worked as an autorickshaw driver and later as a school peon, and the family lived in modest economic circumstances. Pranav took up cricket at a young age and trained under coach Mobin Sheikh, while studying at K. C. Gandhi English School in Kalyan.

The 1,009 not out innings

On 4 and 5 January 2016, Dhanawade was playing for K. C. Gandhi English School against Arya Gurukul School in the Bhandari Cup, an inter-school tournament organised under the Mumbai Cricket Association. Batting at the Union Cricket Academy ground at Kalyan, he scored an unbeaten 1,009 from 323 balls, with 129 fours and 59 sixes. K. C. Gandhi declared its innings at 1,465 for 3, after which Arya Gurukul was bowled out for 31 and 52, losing the match by an innings and 1,382 runs.

The innings broke the previous record of 628 not out, scored by Arthur Edward Jeune Collins for Clarke's House against North Town at Clifton College in England in June 1899, a record that had stood for over a century. Dhanawade became the first batsman in any recorded form of cricket to cross the four-figure mark in a single innings.

Recognition and aftermath

Following the innings, the Mumbai Cricket Association awarded Dhanawade a cash reward and offered him assistance with cricketing equipment and education. The Maharashtra government, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and several private organisations and former cricketers also extended financial support and scholarships. He was felicitated by senior figures from Indian cricket, including Sachin Tendulkar.

He was subsequently selected for Mumbai's age-group teams and continued to develop through the Mumbai Cricket Association's youth structure. While the 1,009 not out remains his most prominent achievement, his progression in senior representative cricket has been more limited compared with the attention generated by the record innings.

Significance

The innings drew international media coverage and renewed attention to school and age-group cricket in India. It is often cited as an example of the exceptional batting volumes possible at the school level on small grounds and against weaker opposition, while also highlighting the role of grassroots cricket structures, such as the Mumbai school tournaments, in identifying young talent. The story of Dhanawade's modest background and record-breaking score has been frequently referenced in discussions of social mobility through Indian cricket.

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