On day one of the Rajkot Test against West Indies, Prithvi Shaw became the youngest Indian to score a century on Test debut. Here are his thoughts on the innings, shared during an interview with Star Sports at the end of the day’s play.
A hundred on debut, tell us how you feel an about the innings.
I’m feeling really good after the hundred. At first I was a bit nervous, but when I got in I was quite comfortable and I was just trying to play my natural game, what I do in first-class cricket and India A. I just kept on going. I didn’t think about this being my first game, I was just thinking it’s another game for me, and it just happened.
It’s easy to tell yourself that it is just another game, but this is Test match cricket and you would have felt somewhere that you had to bat differently. But when we saw you bat out there, it was seamless going from first-class cricket to Test cricket.
It was on my mind that it’s my first time in Test cricket so how am I supposed to bat. But on the other hand, I was like ‘I’ll play my game’. I was confident after playing 10-15 overs. I was just playing the ball on merit and I just kept on going.
The celebration after you got that hundred – who or what were you thinking of?
I was thinking of my dad, because he has sacrificed a lot of things for me. The first hundred is all for him. Whenever I score, I score for him. Obviously for India, it was a big thing for me because each and every cricketer dreams of playing in the Indian side and I got the chance. I didn’t want to lose this opportunity. It was a good challenge for me to play against these guys and I think I did well.
You’re only 18 but watching you bat, you look like a very season batsman, someone who is 25 years old and has played a lot of cricket. That would be true right? You have played a lot of cricket and batted a number of hours, even if you’re just 18.
Yes. I mean from a small age we used to play a lot of school cricket, 30-35 games in a year in school cricket, then Under-16 games. When I came to Under-19 I played a lot of cricket and got a lot of experience. Then India A as well, and Ranji Trophy, it just keeps going on. The matches don’t stop in India, and I think because of all those games I gained experience, and from all the experience I got earlier I brought [into play] over here and just played my game.
When the innings came to an end, we saw how disappointed you were. It felt like you wanted more. People are generally happy just getting their first hundred, but you seemed really disappointed.
Yes I mean, I don’t think it was enough scoring that hundred. The wicket was good and I should have kept batting. I was really disappointed about [how] only 10 minutes were left for the tea break, and that was in my mind. That ‘it’s only ten minutes, you have to be just a bit careful.’ Just that odd ball came, it bounced and gripped a bit (the ball that got him out).