Karnataka’s Prakhar Chaturvedi creates record, scores over 400 in Cooch Behar Trophy final

SHIVAMOGGA: Karnataka’s Prakhar Chaturvedi etched his name in the record books on Monday as he became the first player to score 400 in the final of the Cooch Behar Trophy. He hit a splendid unbeaten 404 against Mumbai at the KSCA Navule Stadium in Shivamogga.

Playing against Mumbai, Chaturvedi smashed the huge score in the first innings of the title clash of the annual four-day tournament for U-19 cricketers.

Chaturvedi opened the innings for Karnataka and he remained unbeaten standing at the crease till his side chose to declare the innings. During his record-making knock, he slammed 46 boundaries and 3 maximums in the 638 deliveries he faced.

On the back of Chaturvedi’s superb knock, Karnataka posted a mammoth score of 890 runs for the loss of eight wickets in 223 overs in their first innings before deciding to declare.

He also broke India’s former star batter Yuvraj Singh’s long-standing 24-year-old record of 358, the previous highest individual score in the tournament final. Overall, he held the second spot on the list of highest individual scores in the tournament, after Maharashtra’s Vijay Zol’s unbeaten 451 against Assam in the 2011-12 season.

“He, unfortunately, missed the Under-16s, it needed a lot of convincing for the selectors to give him an opportunity there”, K Jeshwant, the former Karnataka allrounder and chief selector who now coaches Chaturvedi was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

“A similar story happened at the Under-19s too, but luckily, he got opportunities, and he delivered when it mattered. He’s a great example for players who get dejected when they miss the India selection for the Under-19 World Cup. I won’t be surprised if he gets called into the senior Karnataka squad almost immediately”, he added.

Chaturvedi was just 11 when he started his training at ‘6 Academy’ under his coach Jeshwant.

“There are 400 players in the academy, and at that age when he first came in, he was one among this large group. Everyone has that one year where they make the next step up. Prakhar’s step up came in 2020-21. There was a lot of maturity to him, the way he handled setbacks (not being selected for the Under-16s), and the way he trained and prepared. You could see here was a guy who has the ability to soak up everything and handle things calmly”, Jeshwant said. (ANI)