India U-19
wicketkeeper-batter Harvansh Singh Pangalia on Tuesday scored an whirlwind century in a warm-up match against England U-19.
Walking in at 251/7 during the 36th over, Harvansh Singh Pangalia joined RS Ambrish at the crease and the duo stitched together a valuable 126-run partnership. Ambrish took the lead during this stand, making a fluent 72 off 47 balls before being dismissed. At that point, Pangalia had already reached 47 off 33 balls and promptly brought up his half-century with a boundary on the next delivery.
Pangalia unleashed a stunning assault in the final three overs. He launched the 48th over with back-to-back sixes off Manny Lumsden, who then bowled two no-balls consecutively. The next over saw another six off Matthew Firbank, but the fireworks truly exploded in the last over. Pangalia smashed Lumsden for a four, followed by three towering sixes—his final maximum bringing up a brilliant century off just 52 deliveries. Notably, his second fifty came at lightning speed, taking only 18 balls.
By the end of the innings, India had piled up a mammoth 442/9. Pangalia finished unbeaten, having struck nine sixes. The young wicketkeeper-batter, who plays for Saurashtra’s youth team, had previously turned heads with a similarly aggressive 117 against Australia in a Youth Test last October, where he hit seven boundaries and six sixes.
Who is Harvansh?
India U-19 wicketkeeper-batter Harvansh Singh hails from Gandhidham, a small town in Gujarat's Rann of Kutch. Growing up, he saw his father, Damandeep Singh, and uncle, Kunwarajeet Singh, who played cricket in their town, and interestingly, both of them were wicketkeepers. Now, Harvansh's family is settled in Canada. His father drives a truck in Brampton. Harvansh lives in Gandhidham with his mother and has made a promise to his father that one day he will get them back to India.
Damandeep never thought a video of Yuvraj Singh's six sixes would make his son so obsessed with the game that he would take a vow to represent his country.
"Even Rajkot is 200 km away from our city. It was only in 2012 when the Saurashtra Cricket Association (SCA) opened an academy in our town. I enrolled Harvansh in it when he was six. He picked up keeping from me, as I used to don the gloves as well. But he turned southpaw because of Yuvraj Singh. He's a massive Yuvraj fan and hasn't even seen peak Yuvraj, but he was obsessed with the video of him hitting six sixes off Stuart Broad," Damandeep had told TimesofIndia.com in an interview.
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