Prithvi Shaw on his maiden Test century: Shaw dedicated his maiden Test century to his father and laid emphasis on playing his natural game.

The first day of the first Test of West Indies’ tour of India at Rajkot unequivocally belonged to the 18-year old Prithvi Shaw, who scored an impact-generating maiden hundred after India had lost their first wicket in the first over itself.

Shaw was lauded by some of the greats of the game for his marvelous effort, which saw him taking on the bowlers from the word go. The highlight of Shaw’s innings was that he stuck to his natural game even while closing in on numerous feats. In an interview after the day’s play, Shaw said that it was his intention to back his natural game.

“I was a bit nervous to start off but when I got in, I got comfortable. I just tried to play my natural game. I was just thinking that it’s another game for me and then it just happened. I played the balls on merit and kept going from there on,” Shaw was quoted.

Shaw dedicates his century to someone special

Shaw also revealed that he felt really good after the hundred. On being asked about the celebration which followed after he reached the three-figure mark, Shaw said, “I was thinking about my Dad, as he has sacrificed a lot for me. First hundred, it’s all for him.”

Irrespective of the sport, every athlete dreams of playing for his country. Shaw is no different. “Playing for India, it was a big thing for me. I wanted to make this chance count. It was a good challenge for me and I think I did well in front of these guys,” he said about achieving this dream.

Credits his experience from junior cricket

Qualifying from the Mumbai School of Batting, Shaw is another of those Mumbai batsmen who score heavily in the domestic circuit. Shaw let out the fact that playing numerous matches from the junior level really helped him in gaining experience. “From the smaller age I used to play a lot of school cricket, 30 or 35 school games in a year. I have played a lot of cricket in Ranji and it just keeps going on with so much cricket around. All that experience has helped me and I played my game accordingly,” he added.

Despite portraying the brilliance which he has portrayed today, Shaw was regretful of the way he got out, something which speak highly about his character. “The wicket was good and I should have kept batting. I should have been a bit careful as there were only 10 minutes left before tea,” he further said.

Shaw’s century saw him attracting numerous accolades on social media platform Twitter. Read some of the tweets below: