Yash Chawde, 13, has made history by scoring an unbroken 508 runs for Saraswati Vidyalaya at the Mumbai Indians’ Junior Inter-School (Under-14) cricket competition. His spectacular performance against Siddheshwar Vidyalaya at Nagpur’s Jhulelal Institute of Technology field made him just the ninth player in all formats and age categories to score 500 runs.
Chawde, who batted first for his team, was merciless to the opposing bowlers, slamming 81 boundaries and 18 maximums in his 178-ball stint at the wicket. He finished undefeated on 508, having put up a massive 714-run first-wicket partnership in 40 overs, a record in and of itself, with fellow opener Tilak Wakode.
After an unclear future in skating, the 13-year-old cricketer moved to cricket three years ago after revelling in the skating rink and performing incredibly well in state and national events. He is just the second cricketer in history to score 500+ runs in the limited overs format, with Sri Lanka’s Chirath Selleperuma the only other player to achieve the feat in the shorter format.
Saraswati Vidyalaya’s supervisor, Ravi Kulkarni, mentioned Faiz Faizal, a prominent first-class cricketer who also played for Saraswati Vidyalaya, as an example, claiming that Chawde having the capacity to imitate Faizal at the highest level. He said that the child is a very disciplined player who enjoys biding his time at the crease. He’ll be a player to keep an eye on in the future.
“Faiz went on to play for India and is one of the leading batters in First Class cricket. Yash has it in him to replicate what Faiz has achieved. He is disciplined and has good cricketing acumen. When he stands on the field, his body language makes him stand out. When he bats, it looks like he is ‘lambey race ka ghoda’,” said Ravi Kulkarni
