Drona Desai wasn’t aware that he was playing at 498 when he got out against JL English School, Maninagar in the Diwan Ballubhai Cup (U-19) at Shivaay Cricketing Hub Kailash Karai Gandhinagar later regretted lying two short of the 500 mark.
In making 498 runs, the 18-year-old made a record on Bollywood Tuesday becoming the inter-school cricket record scorer in Gujarat and tied the third highest in India with Armaan Jaffer after Pranav Dhanawade and Prithvi Shaw. His innings spanned 372 minutes in which he hit 86 fours and 7 sixes from Soumya’s 320-ball effort before handing over the gloves to Himanshu Tadvi off Karan’s bowling.
Adding to that was Het Desai’s explosive innings of 142 on 98 balls 10 fours and 9 sixes and captain Viraj Talati helped himself with 104 not out off 93 balls 19 fours 1 six and a total of 844 exchanged hands after St Xavier’s Loyola Hall bowled out JL early in the first innings for 40 and then enforced a follow JL in their second innings were all out for 92 and St Xavier’s won within an innings and by a margin of 712 runs.
Talking to TOI, Drona said, “I am sad that I finished two short of 500 and completed it with this frustration. All in all, I am quite happy. I dedicate this knock to Jay Prakash Patel Sir who has been training me since I was 7 anyway.” Patel is the same coach under whom India’s ex cricketer Parthiv Patel and Priyank Panchal of Gujarat Ranji have progressed in the state and senior level cricketers.
“JP Sir used to say just place a value on ur wicket, it is priceless. I have recorded 86 fours and 7 sixes in that innings, out of which, 79 were mainly ground shots. He asked me to hit only ground strokes for most of my early ages, till twelve probably. After 14, I started doing edge shots in practice,” he narrated.
The only thing that can be highlighted in my English innings is the maturity in his unparalleled batting, his coach at St. Xavier’s Mitul Patel said. There’s no ball that goes without being judged correctly by him. He plays with the right stance and has the correct posture. He is adept both on the front and back foot and on every delivery, he holds on until the last moment before playing it.
