5 incidents of high strike-rates, scoring a century, in Ranji Trophy 2015-16

5 incidents of high strike-rates, scoring a century, in Ranji Trophy 2015-16: ‘Strike-rate’ plays a vital role in situations where batsmen need to score at a brisk rate either to set a target or to chase one with ‘time’ being the key factor. Though a batsman may have an impressive strike-rate during his tenure at the crease, the same could slow down while approaching a landmark, say, a century, only to ensure that the landmark is not missed trying to score fast.

Let us look into five instances where a batsman had scored a century and also maintained a high strike-rate, at the same time, in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2015-16 season. 

1. Robin Uthappa 160 runs at a strike rate of 125.0

The fifth round Group A match between the defending champions, Karnataka, and Rajasthan was played at Sawai Mansingh Stadium. Jaipur, between 30^th Oct and 2^nd Nov, 2015.

Winning the toss, the hosts, under the captaincy of Ashok Menaria, decided to put the visitors into bat.

Backed by half-centuries by Mayank Agarwal (66, 200m, 133b, 11 fours) and Ravikumar Samarth (65, 189m, 132b, 10 fours), Karnataka  piled up 281 runs in their first innings.

Aniket Chaudhury did the honours for Rajasthan, picking up 5 wickets, giving away 77 runs in his spell of 24 overs.

Rajasthan replied with 242 runs, aided by a well made 99 runs (252m, 171b, 14 fours) by their all-rounder, Rajat Bhatia.

Skipper Vinay Kumar (22-9-42-3) and Srinath Arvind (24.4-12-42-3) were greatly responsible for restricting Rajasthan and forcing them to a deficit of 39 runs.

With the slender lead, Karnataka strengthened their position by notching up a massive 318 runs in the second innings.

This was possible due to the excellent batting display by Robin Uthappa, who held on to one end and was plundering the runs. Batting for almost three hours (169 minutes), he scored a huge 160 runs in just 127 deliveries at an impressive strike rate of 125.0 with the help of 25 fours and 4 sixes.

Of his score, 116 runs (72.5%) came from fours and sixes.

Restricting Rajasthan to 265 runs in the second innings, Karnataka went on to win the game by 92 runs.

Robin Venu Uthappa was adjudged the Player of the Match.

2. Shreyas Iyer 137 runs at a strike rate of 124.54

The sixth round Group B match between Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh was played between 7^th and 10^th November, 2015, at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

Uttar Pradesh, under the captaincy of Suresh Raina, won the toss and put the hosts into bat.

At the dismissal of the Mumbai wicket-keeper-skipper-skipper, Aditya Tare (30, 96m, 62b, 4 fours), at the team score of 55/1, the 20-year old Shreyas Santosh Iyer, walked in to give company to Akhil Herwadkar, with whom he put up a 106-run second-wicket partnership. Herwadkar was dismissed for 58 runs (197m, 152b, 5 fours, 1 six).

Rohit Sharma joined the youngster in the middle and the duo went on to put up a 98-run partnership for the third wicket in 16.4 overs.

Iyer departed, caught by the wicket-keeper Eklavya Dwivedi off the bowling of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar but not before registering 137 runs off just 110 deliveries with the help of 14 fours and 5 sixes, after spending three hours (181 minutes) at the crease at 124.54 strike rate.

This was Iyer’s fifth First-Class century in his 19^th match (30^th innings).

Mumbai scored a massive 610 runs in the first innings. Uttar Pradesh replied with 440 runs in the first and 140/1 in the unfinished second innings. The match ended in a draw.

Shreyas Iyer was adjudged the Player of the Match.

3. Shreyas Iyer 200 runs at a strike rate of 113.63

The second round Group B match between Mumbai and Punjab was played at Wankhede Stadium. Mumbai, between 8^th Oct and 11^th Oct, 2015.

Mumbai, led by their wicket-keeper, Aditya Tare, won the toss and opted to field.

Backed by brilliant bowling performances of Shardul Thakur and Balwinder Singh Sandhu (Jr), Mumbai were successful in restricting Punjab to a small total of 154 runs in their first innings.

Sandhu returned with an impressive analysis of 16-6-31-5 while Thakur recorded 14-2-46-4.

Replying to the Punjab score, Mumbai put up a massive 569/8 decl, supported by excellent batting display by the young Shreyas Iyer and the skipper, Aditya Tare.

In the process, Iyer was involved in two significant partnerships.

For the third wicket, he along with Suryakumar Yadav (78, 228m, 162b, 10 fours, 1 six), put up a record partnership of 233 runs in 48.2 overs (the best partnership) in the match.

Thereafter, along with Aditya Tare (137*, 300m, 172b, 16 fours), Iyer registered a 64-run partnership for the fourth wicket.

Young Shreyas scored his maiden First-Class double century by notching up 200 runs off 176 deliveries with the help of 25 fours and 5 sixes, batting for close to five hours (292 minutes) before he was dismissed, caught by Siddharth Kaul off the bowling the Punjab skipper, Yuvraj Singh.

Taking a lead of 415 runs in the first knock, Mumbai restricted Punjab to 403 runs in their second innings, backed by Mandeep Singh’s knock of 116 runs (347m, 208b, 13 fours) and went on to win the match by 12 runs.

Iyer was adjudged the Player of the Match.

4. Sumit Narwal 106* runs at a strike rate of 112.76

The tournament opener for Rajasthan and Delhi in Group A was played between 1^st Oct and 4^th Oct, 2015, at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.

The host won the toss and put Delhi into bat.

Delhi, studded with star batsmen like the skipper, Gautam Gambhir, Unmukt Chand etc, ended their first innings, which lasted only for 47 overs, at 138 runs.

Deepak Chahar returned with an impressive bowling analysis of 15-3-60-5.

Rajasthan, backed by a well-made half-century by Deepak Chahar (50, 48m, 48b, 6 fours, 3 sixes), ended up scoring 240 runs.

Looking to overcome the lead of 102 runs and to set a stiff target for Rajasthan to chase, Delhi put up 437/9 decl in their second innings. This was possible due to a wonderful batting display by the skipper Gautam Gambhir (93, 289m, 175b, 11 fours) and a brilliant unbeaten century by Sumit Narwal, who went on to score 106* runs off just 95 deliveries with the help of 10 fours and 5 sixes. Narwal had a strike rate of 112.76.

Rajasthan replied with an unfinished second innings of 186/3 and the match ended in a draw.

5. Umesh Yadav 128* runs at a strike rate of 107.56

The tournament opener for Baroda and Odisha in Group A was played between 1^st Oct and 4^th Oct, 2015, at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium. Jamtha, Nagpur.

Winning the toss the hosts, under the captaincy of Subramaniam Badrinath opted to bat.

Backed by a wonderful century by one of the opener, Aditya Shanware (119, 380m, 256b, 17 fours), half-century by Ganesh Satish (53, 115m, 89b, 6 fours), the hosts were in a very comfortable position.

However, batting failures by Badrinath (6), Wasim Jaffer (1) and Shalabh Shrivastava (0) left the hosts reeling at 279 runs for the loss of 7 wickets.

At this stage, in walked the speedster Umesh Yadav to join Ravi Jangid. After a brief partnership of 14 runs, Jangid (40, 19m, 131b, 2 fours) departed.

Thereafter Yadav along with the off-spinner, Akshay Wakhare put up a huge partnership of 102 runs for the 9^th wicket, the best partnership in the match, in which Wakhare contributed 34 runs (113m, 90b, 6 fours).

With the No 11 batsman, Ravikumar Thakur (8, 47m, 34b. 1 four), Yadav registered a 72-run partnership for the last wicket.

In the process, Yadav registered his maiden First-Class century in his 41^st match. Yadav remained unbeaten on 128* runs off 119 deliveries with the help of 7 fours and 7 sixes at a strike rate of 107.56.

As a result, Vidharbha ended up scoring 467 runs in their first innings and were successful in restricting the opponents to 274 runs.

Chasing a deficit of 193 runs, Odisha’s unfinished second innings score stood at 230/6 and the match ended in a draw.