Stats highlights from the eighth round of Ranji Trophy games
Bharath Seervi26-Nov-2015280 Target successfully chased by Mumbai against Madhya Pradesh in Indore – their highest in a Ranji Trophy match outside Mumbai. Their previous best away from home was the 256 that they chased against Hyderabad in Secunderabad in 1988-89.2 Number of 275-plus targets successfully chased by Mumbai this season; they had chased 295 against Railways in the seventh round. No other team has done this more than once in a Ranji Trophy season. In fact, the only other team to have successfully chased targets of 250 or more twice in the same Ranji season is Baroda; they chased 276 against Hyderabad and 272 against Tamil Nadu in 2004-05.0 Number of seasons before this in which Mumbai had successfully chased down targets in excess of 200 runs more than once. In the current season, three out of their four wins have come chasing such targets. In the last ten seasons, out of the 15 times they had been set such targets, they had won on only three occasions: they had chased 214 vs Gujarat in 2005-06, 252 against Railways in 2010-11 and 240 against Haryana in 2013-14.20 Number of consecutive innings in the Ranji Trophy in which Shreyas Iyer had passed double digits before getting dismissed for 1 in the first innings against Madhya Pradesh. He got three scores single-digit scores in his first six innings and none in his next 20 innings. In those 20 innings, he made four centuries and eight half-centuries, averaging 70.47. Overall, his average in Ranji Trophy is 60.25 having made his debut last season.0 Number of Karnataka batsmen before Robin Uthappa to make centuries in three consecutive innings in a single season in Ranji Trophy. Uthappa scored 160 against Rajasthan, 148 against Odisha and 148 against Delhi . However, two Karnataka batsmen have made three consecutive hundreds across two seasons – Brijesh Patel scored 100 in the last innings of 1977-78 season and then 100 and 126 in his first two innings of, 1978-79, the next season and Rahul Dravid made 134, 126 and 128 in consecutive innings across the 1990-91 and 1991-92 seasons. Overall it is the 78th instance of an Indian player making three or more consecutive hundreds in first-class cricket. The record for India in first-class cricket is five consecutive hundreds: Parthiv Patel’s scores of 126, 124, 164, 110 and 179 in the year 2007 for India A and Rest of India and in Ranji Trophy. Also, Rusi Modi is the only batsman with five consecutive hundreds in the Ranji Trophy: he made scores of 168, 128, 160, 210 and 245* across 1943-44 and 1944-45 seasons.17 Hundreds by Robin Uthappa in the Ranji Trophy – the joint second-highest for Karnataka along with Rahul Dravid. Uthappa has made 20 centuries in 200 innings in first-class cricket, with 17 of them coming in the Ranji Trophy in 149 innings. Rahul Dravid had made 17 Ranji Trophy hundreds in just 70 innings. The record for most centuries for Karnataka is 26 by Brijesh Patel.32 Number of runs scored by Robin Uthappa in a single over during his knock of 148 against Delhi. Having been on 95 at the start of the over from Dhruv Shorey, he hit four sixes and two fours from six balls. This is the second highest number of runs scored in a single over in the history of first-class cricket in India. Only Ravi Shastri’s 36 runs in an over tops Uthappa’s 32 runs. Shastri had hit six sixes off the over bowled by Baroda’s Tilak Raj in a Ranji Trophy game in 1984-85. Besides these, there have been only two instances when batsmen have hit 30 or more runs in an over in first-class matches in India: 30 runs by Tamil Nadu’s Reuben Paul off Goa’s Raj Naik in 1995-96 and 30 by Delhi’s Kirti Azad off Punjab’s Krishnan Mohan in 1989-90.37 Runs Odisha were dismissed for in their fourth innings against Bengal – their second-lowest total in first-class cricket. Their lowest is 35, which had come against Bihar in 1958-59. It is also the third lowest total by any team against Bengal after 33 and 35 by Assam in the same match in 1974-75. In 1972-73, Bihar were also bowled out for 37 against Bengal. Odisha’s 37 is the lowest total of this season eclipsing Jharkhand’s 45 against Services in the first round of this season. The lowest any team has made in Ranji Trophy is Hyderabad’s 21 against Rajasthan in 2010-11. The highest total in Ranji Trophy is also by Hyderabad – 944 for six against Andhra in 1993-94.69 Saurashtra’s total against Kerala during their chase of 115 – their second lowest against any team apart from Mumbai. They had six totals fewer than 69 before this and five of those had come against Mumbai. Their lowest against any team except Mumbai is 52, against Bihar in 1994-95. Also, there have been only two totals fewer than 69 against Kerala – 28 by Goa in 1998-99 and 33 by Andhra in 1997-98. Kerala successfully defended 115 in their match against Saurashtra. The lowest target defended in Ranji Trophy is 78 by Bihar against Delhi in 1948-49.516 & 44 Runs scored and wickets taken, respectively, by Jalaj Saxena in this season for Madhya Pradesh. Only one player had achieved the double of 500-plus runs and 50-plus wickets in a Ranji Trophy season: Sunil Joshi had scored 529 runs and taken 52 wickets for Karnataka in 1995-96. With a realistic possibility of only one more match in this season for Madhya Pradesh, Jalaj needs at least six wickets to complete the double. Rajesh Chauhan is the only player to take 50 or more wickets for Madhya Pradesh in a Ranji Trophy season: he took 55 wickets in 1996-97.8000 Runs completed in first-class cricket by Yuvraj Singh; he is the fourth batsman to the landmark this season after Naman Ojha (in the second round), Robin Uthappa (sixth round) and Dinesh Karthik (seventh round). Overall, Yuvraj is the 82nd India batsman to aggregate 8000 or more runs in first-class cricket.232 Runs by Swapnil Asnodkar for Goa against Jammu & Kashmir – the third-highest individual score for Goa in first-class cricket. The highest also belongs to Asnodkar – 254* against Railways in 2007-08; VB Chandrasekhar’s unbeaten 237 against Kerala in 1995-96 is second in this list. This was also the fifth double-century by a Goa batsman in first-class cricket, three of which have been by Swapnil Asnodkar; besides his 254* and 232, he had made 204 against Tripura in 2005-06. Ajay Ratra is the other batsman to make a double-hundred for Goa – 204 not out against Rajasthan in 2010-11. During his innings, Asnodkar also completed 5000 runs in his Ranji Trophy career and first-class career.300 Wickets by Pankaj Singh in Ranji Trophy; he reached the milestone in the match against Haryana in this round. He also completed 350 wickets in his first-class career in this match.4 Number of ducks for Mohammad Kaif in as many innings. He recorded his fourth duck in a row, in the first innings for Andhra against Railways. He had got out for ducks in both innings against Punjab and in the only innings against Tamil Nadu before this. He ended this streak by scoring 15 runs in the second innings against Railways. Aditya Tare too has got four ducks in this season. Along with these two, there are five others to score exactly four ducks. Nathu Singh, however, has most ducks this season: six in seven innings for Rajasthan.5 Mithun Manhas’s streak of 50-plus scores in this season. He has made scores of 96, 150, 98, 50* in four consecutive innings before scoring 135 in this round against Goa. In seven Ranji Trophy innings prior to this, he had got four ducks with a highest of 20. His 150 against Hyderabad earlier in the season was his first hundred in 23 first-class innings. Including his 96 against Tripura, he has now made 529 runs in his last five innings at an average of 132.25. He had played for Delhi till last year in the Ranji Trophy since his debut in 1997-98. Following an ordinary season with them last year – which included three ducks in his last-three innings – he had moved to Jammu & Kashmir for the 2015-16 season. With 8480 runs, he is the third-highest run scorer in Ranji Trophy after Wasim Jaffer (10013) and Amol Muzumdar (9202).7-19 Ashok Dinda’s bowling figures in the fourth innings against Odisha – his best in the Ranji Trophy bettering his 7 for 44 against Haryana in 2011-12. This was his sixth seven-wicket haul in first-class and all of them have come in the last five seasons. His best figures in first-class career are 8 for 123, which he took playing for East Zone against North Zone in Duleep Trophy in 2011-12.At the end of the eighth round, Shreyas Iyer is the leading run-getter with 818 runs and Akshay Wakhare is the highest wicket-taker with 45 wickets. The team standings: Top three in Group A – Delhi, Assam and Bengal; Group B – Mumbai, Gujarat and Punjab; Top two in Group C – Saurashtra and Kerala.