In MS Dhoni’s biopic, the protagonist famously says, “Bahut mara, dhaaga khol diya ek dum (He smashed us all over the park),” referring to Yuvraj Singh’s 358 runs in the Cooch Behar Trophy final between Punjab and Bihar.
Twenty-four years later, Karnataka’s Prakhar Chaturvedi defeated the Mumbai team in the 2023-24 final with an unbeaten 404. Yuvraj’s 358 at Keenan Stadium held the record for the highest individual score in a Cooch Behar Trophy final for over two decades.
Batting first, Mumbai were bowled out for 380 runs, and Prakhar’s effort was enough to allow Karnataka to take the first-inning lead, looting 890 for 8. Vijay Zol’s 451 not out for Maharashtra against Assam in the 2011-12 season is still the highest individual score in the tournament.
Prakhar’s father, Sanjay Chaturvedi, is a software engineer who currently operates his own start-up, and his mother, Rupa Chaturvedi, is a technical officer with the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO).
“We are from Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh, but I have lived in Bengaluru for almost two decades. I am an IIT BHU graduate, and I definitely wanted him to focus on his studies, but cricket has taken precedence over the last few years. He received good scores in Class XII, is currently in his first year of BA, and is studying economics,” Chaturvedi said.
“He used to play cricket, just like every other kid in the apartment. One day, a guy in our society told me, ‘Your son hits exceptionally well; why don’t you put him in an academy’. His kid also played cricket. In 2017, we transferred him to SIX Cricket Academy. SIX is headquartered at the Padukone-Dravid Centre of Sports Excellence in Bangalore. Prakhar has represented the state at the U-16 and U-19 levels. It’s great to see him performing well in cricket, which he is quite passionate about,” he says.
K. Jeshwant, the former Karnataka captain and coach with whom Prakhar has trained for the past six years, feels this knock would silence all of his naysayers.
“The boy will have to go through a lot.” He was fighting to get on the state U-19 team. Few people believed in his talent. “He has been an excellent player for us,” adds Jeswanth.
The coach is especially happy because seven of the Karnataka squad’s 15 members come from his program. “Prakhar Chaturvedi, Dhruv Prabhakar, Samit Dravid, Agastya Raju, Samarth, and Yuvraj Arora were in the playing XI, while Krishiv Bajaj was among the substitutes,” he said.
Prakhar’s father praises his son’s dedication; he would go up to 100 kilometers per day for cricket practice. “We live in Electronic City, and the academy is about 50 kilometers away in Devanahalli. It’s like the opposite side of the city. He has worked hard. We watched the match on television as well. “I loved it; he played very well,” adds Chaturvedi.