The young Indian protege, Prithvi Shaw, who missed the pre-match training session due to a swelling in his foot on Thursday, hit a well-composed half-century on Day 1 of the second Test against New Zealand at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch. He reached a half-century by hitting New Wagner for a six over deep fine leg.

Shaw, who failed to get going in the first Test, was severely criticized for his poor technique. Even Test great VVS Laxman advised him to play straight more often rather than playing just the attacking game. However, Shaw delivered soon after all the criticism and scored a half-century off 61 deliveries.

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But after reaching his first fifty in New Zealand, Shaw failed to convert his knock into a big one as he perished off a widish delivery from Kyle Jamieson just before lunch as Tom Latham took a brilliant catch at the second slip. His 64-ball fifty was laced with eight boundaries, and one hit over the fence. And in the process, he became the second-youngest Indian, after the legendary Sachin Tendulkar to hit a Test fifty in New Zealand.

Tendulkar hit his first half-century in New Zealand at the age of 16 years and 291 days while Shaw scored it at the age of 20 years and 112 days. Atul Wasan, Brijesh Patel and Sandeep Patil follow in the particular order in the list.

Prithvi’s fifty helped him earn a pat on the back from the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli as he walked back to the dressing room. The knock will undoubtedly boost his confidence after a poor show in the Test opener.

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However, Shaw didn’t get some apt support from his opening partner Mayank Agarwal as he perished for seven runs, leaving the scoreline reading at 30/1. The Mumbai batsman is featuring in his fourth Test. He has scored 321 runs in six innings at an average of 64.20. He holds the high score of 134 in Test cricket.