The first round of the 2023/24 Ranji Trophy matches have ended and here’s a wrap of the biggest news from India’s first-class tournament.

How India candidates fared

Rinku Singh: Rinku made the most of an early drop in Uttar Pradesh’s clash with Kerala, scoring a blazing 92 against Kerala at a strike rate of 67.64 to continue his excellent form across formats.

Sarfaraz Khan: The record-breaking youngster did not have a good start to the Ranji Trophy season, scoring one in the only innings he batted.

Cheteshwar Pujara: Pujara slammed his 17th double century against Jharkhand, hitting 243 in 356 balls for Saurashtra. The India discard now has the most double centuries by an Indian in first-class cricket.

Riyan Parag: The youngster left an impression in the Chattisgarh clash after his team Assam were asked to follow on, scoring 155 runs in 87 balls with 12 sixes, making the second-fastest ton in Ranji history. It was also the third-most maximums hit by an Indian in a first-class innings.

Runs – 155
Balls – 87
Fours – 11
Sixes – 12
SR – 178.16

Riyan Parag has smashed the second-fastest century in the history of the Ranji Trophy 🤯👏#RiyanParag #India #Assam #RanjiTrophy #Cricket pic.twitter.com/OKGtxKZZn7

— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) January 8, 2024

Sai Sudharsan: Sudharsan, who made his India debut last month, made 1 and 18 in the two innings for Tamil Nadu against Gujarat.

Kuldeep Yadav: Kuldeep Yadav ended the game against Kerala with four wickets, bagging 3-68 in the first innings for Uttar Pradesh.

Ravi Bishnoi: The Gujarat spinner picked up 4-73 in the first innings against Tamil Nadu and got 1-57 in the next as his team won by 111 runs.

Arshdeep Singh: The left-armer dismissed Karnataka skipper Mayank Agarwal in the first innings, finishing with 3-92.

Tilak Varma: The big-hitter scored a 112-ball unbeaten 100 against Nagaland, hitting four maximums and six fours in Hyderabad’s win.

Washington Sundar: The all-rounder could not leave an impact in any department – he scored one and six with the bat and picked up only one wicket in the game.

Bihar pick two teams for their Mumbai game

Bihar were in the news for naming two Ranji Trophy squads – one, an “official” team picked by the president of BCA, with the other being selected by the suspended secretary. The start of Bihar’s match against Mumbai was delayed in Patna after both teams arrived for the game, with the secretary later involved in a physical tussle after the officials stopped his team from playing the match.

A 12-year-old makes his debut

Vaibhav Suryavanshi became the fourth-youngest Indian to make his first-class debut when he took the field against Mumbai. There was a controversy around his age, with the player admitting last year that he would turn 14 in September 2023. However, the official BCCI records currently have him enlisted as a 12-year-old. Suryavanshi made 19 and 12 in the game.

Cold wave affects matches in north India

Only a total of 118 overs of a possible 360 were possible in four centres on day one of the Ranji Trophy. Matches in Delhi, Lahli, Jammu and Chandigarh were affected by heavy fog and poor visibility as the number of overs were drastically reduced. In Delhi, the home team batted only 19 overs on day one after the match was delayed by two hours. In Chandigarh, 54.3 overs of play were possible, while 44.3 overs were bowled in the Jammu-Himachal Pradesh match. On the other hand, the entire day was abandoned in Lahli without a ball being bowled.

Pujara breaks records during double-ton

Pujara scored his 17th double-hundred for Saurashtra against Jharkhand and is now No.4 on the list of most double-tons scored in a first-class career. The list is led by Don Bradman, who made 37 double hundreds, followed by Wally Hammond (36). Elias Henry Hendren is in the third spot with 22 double tons, with the fourth spot being occupied by Pujara along with Herbert Sutcliffe and Mark Ramprakash of England.

He is also now the fourth-highest run-scorer in first-class cricket among Indians, after overtaking VVS Laxman during the innings. He currently has 19,812 runs, behind Sunil Gavaskar (25,834 runs), Sachin Tendulkar (25,396) and Rahul Dravid (23,794).

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