Sachin spotted Shaw early

Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar predicted that Prithvi Shaw, the 18-year-old who hit a century on debut in the ongoing Test against West Indies, would play for India the first time he saw the youngster.

"Jagdish Chavan, a friend of mine, once asked me to take a look at Prithvi," Tendulkar told the Times of India about his meeting with Test cricket's fourth-youngest debut centurion several years ago. "He said, 'There's this young kid who wants to meet you and it would be nice if you could have a look at him'. Prithvi wanted to discuss his game and he was very young at that time.

"So I had a look at him and, at first glance, I told him [Chavan], this boy will end up playing for India. I remember telling him 'You're looking at a future India cricketer... Mark my words, this guy will end up playing for India'."

Tendulkar said that having scored a century on debut, Shaw will now be free of pressure.

"I'm sure it must be extremely relieving that he's been able to get a big score in his first outing. However talented a guy is, a big question mark always is, 'A guy has done well at the domestic level, now will he be able to do the same at the international level?' And a century kind of seals it. As far as I am concerned, the first hurdle that he was going to encounter is out of the way now."

Tendulkar had counselled Shaw -- a fellow Mumbai batting prodigy -- since that first meeting, and reportedly told him that 'if anyone asks you to change your batting grip, you should ask that person to come and speak with me'.

“That was my chat with him," the highest run-scorer in Tests and ODIs said. "All I told him was 'don't change anything till the time you're being bothered by those things'. If you're being dismissed because of one particular thing very regularly, that is when you can start looking at it."