'Pantograph' Pankaj slams 413 during CAB's first division league match

Kolkata, Dec 26: Pankaj Shaw was an employee in the Eastern Railways. But being a group D staff, his job was perilous. He had to ride over the train compartment to repair the pantograph.

He had to do this job at a time when pantograph was on and nearly forty five thousand volt electricity was passing through that instrument. Even a silly mistake could cost one his life working with the pantograph.

Being the only member of the family, Shaw was compelled to do the dangerous job. Otherwise, it was not possible for his father Pulin Shaw to run the family from his small grocery shop in the outskirts of Kolkata.

Shaw has now stunned the cricketing fraternity of Bengal as well as India after scoring 413 runs during a first division league match organised by Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) for his team Barisa Sporting Club on Sunday (Dec 25).

The 28-year-old batsman hit 44 fours and 23 sixes while setting the milestone in only 289 balls. Shaw couldn't even afford to buy a bat and other cricket gears as most of his earning was spent to run the family.

Former Bengal cricketer Udaybhanu Bannerjee came forward and his expressed desire to teach him cricket in crisis.

Pankaj, despite being elated after scoring 400 runs, did not forget his grueling past. He said on Sunday, “Uday (Udaybhanu) sir used give me whatever I needed to play cricket. He even used to give me the bus fare."

Pankaj has left Railway job following CAB chief Sourav Ganguly's advice. Shaw added, “I am also thankful to Sourav for his promise that he will arrange a job for me."

Pankaj knows it might not be possible for him to get national call now at this age. So his focus is to don Bengal shirts in near future.

When asked on how he was able to concentrate on the game for 421 long innings, Pankaj laughed off and said, “My nerves have become steel from the days when I used to ride on the train compartment and repair such a high voltage pantograph."

OneIndia News