In December last year, 21-year-old Prithvi Shaw was India’s first-choice Test opener. But after a string of low scores against Australia, he was dropped for another young talent Shubman Gill. Shaw has taken it upon himself to change his fortunes and has been notching up big scores in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy.

In the league stages, Shaw scored a double century off 142 balls to become the highest individual scorer in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. His name features in the record books with greats like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma – all of whom have a double century to their name.

On Tuesday, the diminutive right-hand batsman added another record to his name by notching up the highest score by an Indian in a chase in a List A game when he smashed an unbeaten 185 against Saurashtra in the quarterfinal, surpassing the likes of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli.

The semifinal match between Mumbai and Karnataka is a battle between two prodigiously talented openers – Shaw and Devdutt Padikkal. With his knock of 100*, Shaw overtook Padikkal as the leading run-scorer of the tournament with 689 runs. With Karnataka batting second, Padikkal could reclaim the top spot though.

Shaw hails from Virar, a small town in Maharashtra. He has been active on the Mumbai cricketing circuit since a very young age, and used to travel from Virat to Churchgate every day for his cricket practice.

Also read: 5 things to know about 21-year-old Prithvi Shaw

As an 18-year-old, Shaw led India to victory in the 2018 Under-19 World Cup. Soon after, he received a India call-up becoming the second youngest batsman to debut for India after Sachin Tendulkar.

In a short career, Shaw has already seen a number of ups and downs. In 2019, he was handed a eight-month suspension for a doping violation. He was accused of ingesting Terbutaline that is found in cough syrup.

On Thursday, Shaw would look to put all this behind and guide his team to the final of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.