Ambiguity over Rishabh Pant and Shakti Singh over fastest century in Ranji Trophy

19-year old Indian batting sensation Rishabh Pant slammed twin centuries against Jharkhand at Thumba in the fifth round of the Ranji Trophy encounter. However, former Himachal Pradesh cricketer Shakti Singh has gone on to claim that the record belongs to him citing that he slammed a 42-ball century against Haryana at the Kangda Police Stadium in 1990.

The 19-year old Rishabh Pant, however, has turned a few heads with some terrific batting performances. Apart from a few blazing innings in the Indian Premier League also has a triple century to his name. Shakti Singh has now gone on to claim that his knock in 1990 was faster than Pant’s 48-ball century. While no official record exists pertaining to the number of balls taken to achieve the three-figure mark, Singh said that the time taken for the same has been registered officially.

“The unofficial stat is I got to my century in 42 balls. That was the time when there were no official scorers and scoring was done by the team members,” Singh told The Times of India in an exclusive interview. “I remember going in at number eight and started to hit my shots and it was only when I neared by fifty that they (team members) started to count.”

Singh also claimed that he slammed his fifty in 18 deliveries. “I got to my fifty in 18 balls with two fours and seven sixes. I went on to hit three more fours and five more sixes and hardly blocked four or five deliveries. But the number of balls was not recorded. However, my official time registered to get to the 100 was 59 minutes,” he added.

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“And the interesting fact about that knock was that a day before I was admitted to the ICU (intensive care unit) owing to stomach cramps and the doctors had told me that I cannot play the next day. But our team was batting and I was sitting in the pavilion all day until it was my time to bat,” Singh said.

BREAKING: Got to talk to Shakti Singh….he says he reached the hundred in just 36 balls!!!#RanjiTrophy @Ranjiscores

— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) November 8, 2016