Himachal youngster Prashant Chopra compared to Sehwag for his blistering triple ton

Prashant Chopra, 25, is compared to former Indian opener Virender Sehwag for his rapid triple century which he brought up in the Ranji Trophy on Saturday. The Himachal Pradesh batsman smashed Punjab’s bowlers all round the park to produce his maiden triple ton in just 318 balls, making him the first batsman from Himachal to score a triple hundred.

To top it all up, he achieved this unprecedented feat on his 25th birthday. Chopra’s knock drew praise from Harbhajan Singh, who, despite sitting in the opposition dressing room, gave him a standing ovation. His coach Vikram Rathour felt the youngster’s knock ‘was one of the best he had ever seen.’

Outstanding innings

“I’ve seen some of Sehwag’s brilliant knocks in domestic and international cricket and this knock really reminded me of him. I have been around for more than 25 years now but never been in a game where 460 runs (459 for 2) were scored on the first day in a Ranji Trophy game. This was an outstanding innings that he played and against a good attack. All the three guys (Manpreet Gony, Sandeep Sharma and Barinder Sran) have played for India. Some of the shots he played actually reminded me of Viru,” Rathour was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

Prashant went on to score a mammoth 338 off 363 deliveries in Dharamshala, which included a whopping 44 fours and two biggies. The youngster felt the comparison with Viru was a certain ‘confidence booster’, and also credited his coach Rathour for his sparkling performance.

Himachal Pradesh amassed 459/2 on Day 1 after winning the toss and opting to bat first and declared on 729/8 in 148 overs in their first innings. Chopra had already cemented his place in the record books by smashing 271 on the very first day becoming only the second Indian batsman to do so in first-class cricket and the first in 67 years.

He has been in the limelight since being part of the victorious India U19 team which came out on top in the 2012 U19 World Cup.