Right on cue: As Sachin steps away, a 14 year old in India bats a 546

The cricketing world has seen no shortage of ink spilled over the departure of Sachin Tendulkar.

Countless words have been spent wondering what comes next, how exactly India will move on and just what Sachin Tendulkar meant in a kind of cosmic sense.

And, right in the nick of time, Agence France-Presse delivers this delightful little tale from Mumbai, where a 14 year old kid apparently batted a 546 off 330 balls in school match:

"A 14 year old Indian batsman smashed an astonishing 546 off 330 balls in a school match in Mumbai, recording the third highest score in any form of cricket, media reports said on Wednesday.

Prithvi Shaw, playing for Rizvi Springfield school, compiled the huge score against St Francis school in the Harris Shield, a tournament that brought batting icon Sachin Tendulkar into the limelight more than two decades ago.

Shaw hit 85 boundaries and five sixes, surpassing the previous best score in the competition of 498 by Armaan Jaffar, nephew of former Indian opener Wasim Jaffar, two years ago, the Times Now and CNN-IBN channels said.

Shaw's innings was spread over two days after he was unbeaten on 257 on Tuesday evening.

"I am feeling good," the youngster told Times Now. "It is a good score for me and my team. Our coach just asked me to concentrate on every ball. The only plan was to score as many runs as we could.

"I want to continue like this in future also."

Indian statistician Mohandas Menon tweeted that Shaw's effort was the third-highest recorded score behind the unbeaten 628 by Englishman Arthur Collins in 1899 and 566 by Charles Eady of Australia in 1901.

It was in the same Harris Shield competition that Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli struck a 664-run partnership for their school in 1988, with both batsmen returning with unbeaten triple-centuries.

Tendulkar retired last week as the world's top-scorer in both Test and one-day cricket and the only man to compile 100 international centuries.

West Indies' star Brian Lara holds the individual innings record of 400 not out in Tests and 501 not out in first-class cricket."