Prithvi Shaw silenced his doubters after he smashed an unbeaten 157 to help Rizvi Springfield gain a lead of 141 runs against Anjuman-I-Islam English in the Giles Shield final
Click here to watch Rizvi skipper Prithvi Shaw speakPrithvi Shaw silenced his doubters after he smashed an unbeaten 157 to help Rizvi Springfield gain a lead of 141 runs against Anjuman-I-Islam English in the Giles Shield final at the Vengsarkar Academy, Oval Maidan yesterday.
He was well supported by Armaan Jaffer (112 not out) with whom he shared an unbeaten stand of 262 runs for second wicket as the defending champions ended the day on 302 for one.
On the eve of the final, theu00a0 Anjuman camp had told MiD DAY that Armaan Jaffer would be their man to watch out for as they felt Prithvi was struggling for runs. However, yesterday Prithvi aptly let his bat do the talking as he pounded the Anjuman bowlers to all parts of the ground.
The Rizvi skipper was quite surprised by the pre-match comments from the Anjuman camp, as he had amassed 547 runs in four matches prior to the final that included a couple of centuries and a double-ton.
"I think they were expecting me to score a lot more than what I have already done. Maybe, they expected a lot more from me. But now, I don't think they will be saying that," Prithvi told MiD DAY.
Prithvi refuted suggestions that he was under any kind of pressure and claimed his focus is on landing his school a hat-trick of Giles Shield titles.
"I have been leading the Rizvi U-14 side from the last three seasons. I'm solely concentrating on helping my team win a third Giles Shield title in a row," added Prithvi.
Meanwhile, Anjuman's assistant coach Syed Alamdar said his side didn't underestimate Prithvi's batting prowess at all, but instead felt that Armaan was more of a threat. "We didn't really ignore him (Prithvi). We know he is an important player just like Armaan, but given the kind of form Armaan is in, we thought he would be the key," said Alamdar.
