The Run Machine: Fourteen-year-old Armaan From Mumbai Continues To Pile Up Huge Scores
The Run Machine: Fourteen-year-old Armaan from Mumbai continues to pile up huge scores
By [/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Qaiser+Mohammad+Ali Qaiser Mohammad Ali]
Published: 00:14 BST, 16 February 2013 | Updated: 00:15 BST, 16 February 2013
[ ] [ ] [ ] </a> [/indiahome/indianews/article-2279486/The-run-machine-Fourteen-year-old-Armaan-Mumbai-continues-pile-huge-scores.html#comments
View
comments]
Teenaged batting prodigy Armaan Jaffer is extremely fortunate.
Apart from having a coach in his house, his father Kaleem, his school coach Raju Pathak lives a few furlongs away on Hill Road, Bandra (West), from his residence on Kishan Chand Marg in Mumbai.
With no dearth of guidance, Armaan is blooming fast and his magnificent record-breaking knock of 473 at No.4 helped Springfield School 'beat' IES VN Sule Guruji (Dadar) on the basis of the first-innings lead in the final to retain the under-16 Harris Shield title on Friday in Mumbai.
Armaan Jaffer's 473 was his second knock of 450-plus in Mumbai's interschool cricket
The impact of 14- year-old Armaan's knock (359 balls, 65x4s, 16x6s) was such that on the fourth and final day of the match on Friday, the Dadar school "conceded" the match well before the tea interval when the game as a contest had already died.
VN Sule Guruji school scored 353 and Springfield School scored a whopping 1,049 for seven wickets when the match ended at Matunga Gymkhana.
Armaan's 437-minute innings is the highest score ever made in the Harris Shield tournament.
He broke the record of his school and teammate Sarfaraz Khan, who had scored a brilliant 439 in 2009- 10.
The Mumbai-based Sarfaraz learnt about Armaan's record at his native Basupar village in Azamgarh, https://cricketnfootballcenter.bookmark.com/sachin-tendulkar-house-bandra where he had gone with his family.
Naturally, both Kaleem, elder brother of former India opener Wasim Jaffer, and Pathak were elated and are eagerly looking forward to the next season.
They hope that the prolific righthanded batsman would get to play for Mumbai under-19 team.
"Armaan planned his innings well. There was pressure on the school to defend the title and because of that there was some pressure on him too. But he absorbed the pressure and batted well," Kaleem, who has since been besieged by the media at his residence, told MAIL TODAY.
"The opposing bowling attack was good and it is worth noting that it had four bowlers who played for Mumbai this season."
Armaan was satisfied after his effort.
"We lost the first two wickets quickly, due to which we were a little under pressure. But I forged a partnership of 631 with Siddharth Singh, who scored 177.
"We fell just 34 runs short of breaking the Harris Shield record of Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli," Armaan told MAIL TODAY.
The partnership was broken when Siddharth was out leg before the wicket, missing the target of 664 that Tendulkar and Kambli had scored for Shardashram Vidyamandir School in February 1988.
Pathak, who has been the Rizvi Springfield's coach for 20 years and has watched closely Armaan grow, pointed out that confidence is his ward's forte.
"In a semi-final against Anjuman-e-Islam, Armaan had scored 263 in his team's 518-run win. So, he was high on confidence going into the final.
"Shot selection and temperate are the other strong points of his batting. Also, he has a good technique, and reads the situation very well," Pathak told MAIL TODAY.
"Even Tendulkar didn't score so many centuries at this age and runs as Armaan has done. He has scored several double centuries, three or four triple tons and two 450-plus knocks." Armaan slammed 498 in Giles Shield in December 2010.
This season, Armaan was again in full bloom in the BCCI-organised under-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy, becoming the first player in the tournament to go past the 1,000-run mark in a season.
His ended with a tally of 1,046 in seven matches.
Both Kaleem and Pathak feel that the talented Armaan is now mature enough to play at the next level.
"He is capable enough to play for Mumbai under-19 team next season," says Pathak. The tall Armaan was, actually, picked in the Mumbai under-19 side this season, but did not get a chance to play in the presence of the established seniors.
Armaan must have cursed himself at missing 500 by a mere 27 runs. "I played a sweep shot but the ball spun more than expected, taking the top edge of bat to be caught," he said.
With that catch, Prathamesh Chavan and left-arm spinner Heramb Parab also entered the record books, though for an unwanted reason.
