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What's the story?
The wait is all but over for the 18-year-old Prithvi Shaw who made debut for India on Thursday against West Indies at Rajkot. He is the 293rd cricketer to represent India in Test cricket and at the age of 18 years 329 days Shaw became India's second youngest opener after Vijay Mehra, who was 17 years 265 days at Bombay's Brabourne Stadium against the Kiwis in Dec 1955.
On his debut, Shaw has been sensational with the bat. He scored a century off 99 balls to become the third fastest cricketer to score a debut hundred. With this feat, he also became the youngest Indian to score a century on debut for India in Tests.
Also read: 10 things you didn't know about Prithvi Shaw, the youngest second youngest Indian opener
In case you didn't know
Prithvi Shaw first grabbed the attention of the world as a 14-year-old when he 546 off 330 balls for Rizvi-Springfield against D'Assisi High School in the Harris Shield tournament of 2013-14. At the age of 17, he made his first debut for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy and helped his side win the all-crucial semifinal against Tamil Nadu by scoring a century on debut.
Earlier this year, he also led the India team to victory in the U-19 World Cup held in New Zealand. After the World Cup success, Shaw was bought by Delhi Daredevils and he became the youngest ever opener in the history of the tournament.
In the last one year, Shaw has been sensational and has forced his way into the Indian Test team by performing exceptionally well in the domestic circuit and for India A. The Mumbai batsman has a first class average of 56.72 at a strike rate of 76.69.
The heart of the matter
After losing the Test series in England, a Virat Kohli-less India won the Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates. In less than a week's time after defending their title as the Asian Champions, they are back to Test cricket facing West Indies in a two-match series.
India won the toss and elected to bat first. Even after losing the wicket of KL Rahul in the very first over, India is a wonderful situation right now, thanks to Prithvi Shaw and Cheteswara Pujara. While Shaw entered the triple-digit zone in no time, Pujara himself is not too far from a century. With these two batting exceptionally, India are in a dominant position in the first Test.
Final Say
Prithvi Shaw is an extremely talented batsman and is one for the future. With India struggling to find the right opening combination in recent times, Shaw might be the perfect solution for India's troubles at the top. He is still young and with time will mature as a batsman and as a cricketer so it is important that India give him enough opportunities.
