India U-19 wicketkeeper-batter Harvansh Singh Pangalia made headlines on Tuesday when he scored a blistering 52-ball century against England U-19 team. The youngster walked in at 251/7 in the 36th over and alongside Ambrish, Harvansh Singh Pangalia racked up a 126-run stand.
As Ambrish scored a 47-ball 72, Pangalia reached 47 in mere 33 balls and hit a four the very next ball to bring up his half-century.
Pangalia then whacked the English colts to all corners of the stadium. He hit consecutive sixes off Manny Lumsden. The next over off Matthew Firbank, he hit him for a six.
Pangalia then smashed Lumsden for a four, followed by a hat-trick of sixes - with the final delivery bringing up his century. Pangalia's fireworks saw India U-19 achieve a mammoth total of 442/9.
Pangalia isn't new to the scene, as the Saurashtra's youth product had hogged the headlines in a Youth Test last year, where he smashed 117 against Australia, including seven fours and six sixes.
Who Is Harvansh Singh Pangalia?
Harvansh Singh is from Gandhidham, a small town in Gujarat's Rann of Kutch. With limited facilities in the region, Pangalia fought through the odds from a young age.
His father, Damandeep Singh, moved to Canada in 2017 for better opportunities, but Harvansh insisted on staying in India to chase his dream of playing cricket at the highest level.
Damandeep’s elder brother also played a crucial role, gifting Harvansh a bowling machine to compensate for the lack of practice facilities in their hometown.
"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," Harvansh's father Damandeep was quoted speaking to TimesofIndia.com in an interview.
