Prakhar Chaturvedi, the young cricketer, is certainly one of the biggest topics of discussion in the cricket fraternity in current times as the youngster played a sensational knock of 404 runs not out in the Cooch Behar Trophy final which was played between Karnataka and Mumbai.
Prakhar Chaturvedi is the opener of Karnataka’s U-19 team and he is the first player to smash a quadruple century in the Cooch Behar Trophy Final. Moreover, with this, he has also broken the 24-yr record of the highest score of 358 which was scored by the former Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh. Prakhar is the second player to score a quadruple century in the U-19 level after former India U-19 captain Vijay Zol (Maharashtra) who scored 451* in a match which his team played against Assam in 2011-12 season. The Mumbai team had scored 380 runs in their first innings and Karnataka won the match on the basis of the first innings lead as they put up a huge total of 890/8 in their first innings.
After the match, Prakhar got many calls for interview and he told one sports portal that it really feels great that he has been able to perform well in this kind of match. He added that it was a really big game for his team and everyone came to watch them and he is proud of scoring 404 runs. He also said that Mumbai players were worried that he may beat their score individually.
He further said that his team had taken a big lead by the time he reached near 400 and they were sure that they are going to win the match. He said that when he reached the mark of 390 runs, he played with a blank mind and achieved the milestone.
Prakhar is a close friend of Samit Dravid, son of former Indian cricketer and current head coach of the Indian cricket team, Rahul Dravid. He stated that he has been playing with Samit since U-10 and they are close; they also had some good partnerships in club and academy games but this is the first time that they both are playing for state together.
Talking about Rahul Dravid, Prakhar Chaturvedi said that he has met and chatted with him 4-5 times. Prakhar reveals that Rahul Dravid has advised him that whenever he bats in nets, he should imagine that he is playing a match and should ask the bowlers about the field placements and play according to that.
Though it was disappointing for Prakhar that he missed the chance of playing in the U-19 World Cup, he also missed the Vinoo Mankad Trophy initially because of dip in form in the selection matches but his coaches and selectors supported him and he made it for the Vinoo Mankad Trophy.
He also talked about his fitness and training regime and said that in a week, he works out 2-3 days in the gym and practices for 3-4 hours. He said that he started working out in gym during U-16 and during the season, he focuses on his skills.
Prakhar stated that he started playing cricket at the age of 8 and a half; he joined Frontiers Academy where his coach Ranjan sir got impressed with his ability and talked to his father and convinced him to make Prakhar play at higher level. Prakhar’s parents are quite supportive, his father is the owner of a software company and his mother is employed in Defence Research and Development Organisation.
We wish Prakhar Chaturvedi luck for his future!