Cooch Behar Trophy final: Prakhar Chaturvedi smashes Yuvraj Singh’s 24-year-old record with unbeaten 404

Karnataka opener Prakhar Chaturvedi smashed the highest individual total in the Under-19 Cooch Behar Trophy final, hitting an unbeaten 404 against Mumbai in Shimoga on Sunday. His historic knock broke the previous highest score of 358 held by former India great Yuvraj Singh (scored 24 years ago), helping his team win the daddy clash on a first-innings lead.

Prakhar's 404 is, however, the second-highest individual score in the tournament, after Vijay Zol’s 451 against Maharashtra against Assam in the 2011/12 season.

After dismissing Mumbai for 380 on the second day in the first innings, Karnataka hammered their bowlers left, right and centre by posting 890 for eight in 223 overs.

Chaturvedi hit 46 fours and three sixes during his 636-ball stay at the crease.

Meanwhile, Prakhar's masterful knock vows to change his fortune (having failed to make it to the Under-19 squad in the first place) and with this inning on his back, Prakhar will be knocking on the selector’s door for a Ranji Trophy debut. The opening batter also missed out on getting picked for the U-19 World Cup, which gets underway in South Africa on January 19.

Luck-less Chaturvedi makes it big

After joining the SIX Academy at the Dravid-Padukone Centre of Sports Excellence in Bengaluru in 2017, Chaturvedi trained under former Karnataka batter K Jeshwant.
With him being part of a 400-player academy, Chaturvedi took his time to groom and emerge, and once he did that post-COVID in 2020-21, he came as a more mature person after suffering setbacks (not being picked for the U-16).

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"He, unfortunately, missed the Under-16s, it needed a lot of convincing for the selectors to give him an opportunity there," K Jeshwant said. "There are 400 players in the academy, and at that age when he first came in, he was one among this large group. Everyone has that one year where they make the next step up.

"Prakhar's step up came in 2020-21. There was a lot of maturity to him, the way he handled setbacks (not being selected for the Under-16s), the way he trained and prepared. You could see here was a guy who has the ability to soak up everything and handle things calmly,” his coach added.