Drona Desai, a name you might not have heard but are going to a lot in the coming days, smashed a humongous 498 runs in a single innings. Desai, playing for his school St Xaviers (Loyola), played the marathon knock against JL English School in the Diwan Ballubhai Cup under-19 tournament in Gandhinagar at the Shivay Cricket Ground. Desai now joined the likes of Pranav Dhanaware, Prithvi Shaw and Armaan Jaffer to go that big in just one innings.
"I wasn't aware I was so near to 500. There was no scoreboard, and my team didn't inform me. I went to play my stroke and got out, but I'm happy to have made those runs," Desai was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.
The 18-year-old smashed 86 fours and seven sixes during his knock, which came off 320 balls. St Xaviers achieved a victory by an innings and 712 runs against JL English School, who were playing with just a 10-player side as one of them arrived late.
"I began to play cricket at the age of seven and my father pushed me hard as he felt I have in me to become a good cricketer," Desai said, who took up the sport after watching his idol Sachin Tendulkar bat. "He [his father] took me to JP Sir (Jayprakash Patel) who had coached more than 40 cricketers. Such is the scenario that since standard 8 to 12, I just went to school for my exams. I just continued playing cricket and am hoping to make it big one day," Desai added.
Desai, who has represented Gujarat at the Under-14 level, might push his case for the U19 side for the state with the knock, that helped him put his name in the elite list. Desai joined Mumbai's Pranav Dhanawade (1009*), Prithvi Shaw (546), Dr Havewalla (515), Chamanlal (506 not out) and Arman Jaffer (498) on the list of Indian cricketers to play the longest innings.
