Karnataka’s maiden Cooch Behar Trophy (Under-19) title came with an icing on the cake.
In Shivamogga on Sunday, Karnataka defeated Mumbai in the final by virtue of a mammoth 510-run first-innings lead.
This was largely made possible by the soon-to-be 19 Prakhar Chaturvedi, who smashed an unbeaten 404, studded with 46 fours and three sixes. Mumbai had made 380 in its first innings, only for Karnataka, led by opener Prakhar, to accumulate a mind-boggling 890 for eight decl.
The just reward for Prakhar and his teammates — apart from the trophy — was an audience with India head coach Rahul Dravid at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday on their return to Bengaluru.
With his knock, Prakhar went past Yuvraj Singh’s 24-year-old record for the highest individual score in a Cooch Behar final (358) before etching his name just below Maharashtra’s Vijay Zol, whose 451 not out against Assam in 2011-12 is the highest in the tournament.
In the 2023-24 edition, Prakhar finished second in the scorers’ list with 795 runs.
K. Jeshwanth, former Karnataka captain and Prakhar’s coach at the Six Cricket Academy housed inside the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence in Bengaluru’s outskirts, told The Hindu that though he expected good things from Prakhar, the quadruple century came as a surprise.
“It [success] was a matter of time, but no one expected this big a score,” he said.
“He has had not too many happy situations with selections. But he has always trusted his ability. He can go higher. He is not a high-risk player, so he is technically equipped to play good cricketing shots across formats.”
