October 3, 2018 is going to be a big day for young Prithvi Shaw. On Wednesday, the team management all but confirmed that Shaw will open the batting when they named a 12-man shortlist for the first Test against West Indies starting in Rajkot on Thursday.
Shaw will be 18 years and 329 days old on the first day of the first Test as he receives the India cap and it’ll be a moment to remember for the youngster. His career on the international and domestic circuit has already been impressive with debut centuries in Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy as well as being the captain of the World Cup-winning Under-19 team.
At 17 years and 57 days, Shaw became just the second youngest Mumbai cricketer, after Sachin Tendulkar, to hit a Ranji century on debut. He went on to score five centuries from seven first-class matches in that season. Only Tendulkar, with seven hundreds, had scored more tons as an 18-year-old in first-class cricket in India.
At 17 years and 320 days, Shaw then became the second youngest player to notch up a three-figure mark in the Duleep Trophy (once again, only Tendulkar was younger when he achieved that feat).
And now, he is set to become the second youngest opening batsman in India’s history after Vijay Mehra in 1955.
Among just batsmen, Shaw is the second youngest to make his debut for India since Tendulkar famously walked out to the middle in Karachi in 1989. Overall, Shaw is the fourth youngest batsman (excluding wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel) to make his debut, after Tendulkar, Mehra and AG Milkha Singh.
The venue at Rajkot also has a special place in Shaw’s career.
Overall, Shaw will be the 13th youngest Indian cricketer to play a Test match, with the record still belonging to Tendulkar of course. Till date, 29 cricketers have played their first Test for India before turning 20.
Interestingly enough, only five among those 12 teenaged Test debutants have gone on to play more than 50 Tests for India. Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh are the only two in that list to reach the three-figure mark while Ishant Sharma is currently 13 short of that milestone.
India's youngest Test cricketers
| Name | Age on d | Performance on debut | Total No of Tests in career |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sachin Tendulkar vs PAK, Karachi, 15 Nov 1989 | 16 years 205 days | 1st inng: 15 2nd inng: DNB | 200 |
| Piyush Chawla vs ENG, Mohali, 9th Mar 2006 | 17 years 75 days | 1st inng: 0/45 2nd inng: 1/8 | 3 |
| L Sivaramakrishnan vs WI, St John’s, 28 Apr 1983 | 17 years 118 days | 1st inng: 0/95 2nd inng: DNB | 9 |
| Parthiv Patel v ENG, Nottingham, 8 Aug 2002 | 17 years 152 days | 1st inng: 0 2nd inng: 19* | 25 |
| Maninder Singh v PAK, Karachi, 23rd Dec 1982 | 17 years 193 days | 1st inng: 0/67 2nd inng: DNB | 35 |
| Vijay Mehra v NZ, Mumbai, 2nd Dec 1995 | 17 years 265 days | 1st inng: 10 2nd inng: DNB | 8 |
| Harbhajan Singh vs AUS, Bengaluru, 25 Mar 1998 | 17 years 265 days | 1st inng: 2/112 2nd inng: 0/24 | 103 |
| AG Milkha Singh v AUS, Chennai ,13 Jan 1960 | 18 years 13 days | 1st inng: 16 2nd inng: 9 | 4 |
| BS Chandrasekhar v ENG, Mumbai, 21 Jan 1964 | 18 years 249 days | 1st inng: 4/67 2nd inng: 1/40 | 58 |
| Ishant Sharma v BAN, Dhaka, 25 May 2007 | 18 years 265 days | 1st inng: 1/19 2nd inng: 0/30 | 87 |
| Ravi Shastri vs NZ, Wellington 21 Feb 1981 | 18 years 270 days | 1st inng: 3/54, 3 2nd inng: 3/9, 19 | 80 |
| Chetan Sharma vs PAK, Lahore 17 Oct 1984 | 18 years 288 days | 1st inng: 3/94 2nd inng: DNB | 23 |
| Prithvi Shaw vs WI, Rajkot, 4 Oct 2018 | 18 years 329 days | TBD | TBD |
Also, as you can see from the table above, the youngest Test debutants for India have not enjoyed great success in their first matches, the great Tendulkar included. BS Chandrasekhar, with his mystery spin of yore, picked up five wickets in his first Test as India managed to avoid a rare defeat in England in those days. Ravi Shastri, the current head coach, took three wickets in each innings (and batted at No 10, though that would change later in his career) on his debut in New Zealand, in India’s defeat. No 18-year-old has managed a score of 20-plus in a innings on their debut, with Shastri’s 19 being the highest individual score.
In fact, no teenager has ever scored a fifty for India on debut.
When Shaw walks out to bat in the first Test, he’d have his eyes set on breaking a few of these records.
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