Police detain record-breaking teenager

Pranav Dhanawade soared into the record books after becoming the first player in history to score 1,000 runs in a single innings but nearly 12 months later, the Indian schoolboy was detained by police in an incident involving a politician’s proposed helipad.

In January, Dhanawade reached the remarkable four-digit milestone on the second day of a match between his KC Gandhi English High School and Arya Gurukul School in Mumbai, finishing with an unbeaten 1,009 from 323 deliveries.

The Year 10 student’s colossal knock, the first-ever score in excess of 1,000 recorded in cricket history, included a staggering 59 sixes and 127 fours.

Dhanawade’s efforts made headlines around the world, even prompting former India maestro Sachin Tendulkar to personally gift the teenager one of his own bats, while MS Dhoni labelled him “special”.

But close to a year since his epic innings, the now 16-year-old and his father were hauled from the Subhash Maidan cricket ground this week in Mumbai and taken into custody by police for about an hour.

Dhahawade had been asked to vacate the ground as it has been designated as a makeshift helipad for the visit of prominent politician Prakash Javadekar to the city.

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“Pranav and the others stopped training immediately and packed their bags,” Dhanawade’s father Prashant, a rickshaw driver, told the Hindustan Times. “They were just stretching about 10-15 feet away from the helipad when the cops came again and asked them why they were still loitering around. 

“Pranav told them that they would leave in five minutes after finishing their stretching exercises.

“At this point, the cops lost their cool and dragged Pranav by the collar and bundled him into a police van. 

“I had also reached the ground by then and they threw me also into the van for questioning them. No other kid was picked up.”

Dhanawade’s coach Mobin Shaikh suggested Javadekar should park his helicopter elsewhere given the lack of cricketing facilities in the area.

“First of all, there are no proper facilities for children to train. There’s only one proper ground in that area for budding cricketers,” Shaikh said. 

“The ground is like a temple or mosque for the players; they should get first preference there. Just a year ago, you put this kid on the pedestal and now you have treated him like a criminal.”

After reaching his incredible milestone earlier this year, Dhanawade had said he had his sights set on playing in India’s premier domestic competition.

"My teachers have helped me a lot and now I want to play the Ranji Trophy. I have always been a big hitter," Dhanawade told India Today at the time.

"When I started I never thought about breaking the record. The focus was never that I just played my natural game which is to attack from the word go."

Javadekar is a member of India’s largest political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, and is the current Union Minister of Human Resource Development.

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