Prashant Chopra sets opening day record in Ranji Trophy

The opening day of the Ranji Trophy 2017-18 season witnessed a rare record during the game between Himachal Pradesh and Punjab at the HPCA Cricket Stadium in Dharamsala. Himachal Pradesh opener Prashant Chopra struck an unbeaten 271 on the first day with his side already posting a big total of 459 on the board for the loss of just two wickets.

The home team made the Punjab bowlers toil after electing to bat first. Another opener Priyanshu Khanduri, who was making his professional cricket debut, scored just four runs before getting out to Sandeep Sharma in the 3rd over. Along with the skipper Sumeet Verma, Prashant put on a 187-run stand for the 2nd wicket in just 40.4 overs. Young spinner Abhishek Sharma broke the partnership dismissing Sumeet for 79.

The run-fest carried on with Paras Dogra proving to be the right partner for Prashant. The pair went into stumps with an unbeaten stand of 265 runs for the 3rd wicket. Prashant stuck 37 fours and a six during his 271-run knock which came in just 289 balls while Dogra remained unbeaten one short of a century. By scoring the 271 runs on day one, Chopra became the first player to score 250 and more runs on the opening day of a Ranji Trophy game.

Overall, Prashant became the 3rd player to score 250+ runs in a single day of Ranji Trophy. Bahusaheb Babasaheb Nimbalkar scored 277 runs in a single day during his record knock of 443* in 1948/49 while Cheteshwar Pujara scored 261 on the 4th day of the 2012/13 quarter-final game. The 271 runs Prashant has piled on are also the most by any player in the opening day of an FC match in India. The previous most runs scored by a player on the opening day of an FC match in India was 268* by S Wazir Ali in 1935 for Indian University Occasionals against Viceroy’s XI.

250+ runs in a single day’s play in Ranji Trophy:

(Stats as on October 6, 2017)