Ranji Trophy 2019-20, Round 2 – Rahul Mandal’s twin 150s, Taruwar Kohli’s triple ton, Ajay Mandal's all-round double and more stats

A total of 14 out of the 18 matches in the 2nd round of the Ranji Trophy 2019-20 witnessed outright results; one more than the number of outright results in the first round. Jammu & Kashmir defeating Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh beating Tamil Nadu and Andhra getting better of Delhi were among the lesser expected results. The defending champions Vidarbha secured their first outright win as they defeated Rajasthan by an innings and 60 runs.

The most exciting game of the round was between Baroda and Madhya Pradesh which ended with the former team chasing down the target of 174 with only one wicket in hand. Taruwar Kohli recorded the first triple century of the season as he struck an unbeaten 307 for Mizoram against Arunachal Pradesh. Abhimanyu Mithun took a 6-wicket haul for Karnataka continuing his white-ball exploits.

All the statistical highlights from the 2nd round of the Ranji Trophy 2019-20:

2 – Rahul Dalal of Arunachal Pradesh scored 178 and 205* in the game against Mizoram. He thus became the 10th player in first-class cricket to score a double century and 150+ in the same match. Rahul is only the 2nd player from India to achieve this feat. Ambati Rayudu scored 210 and 159* during the 2002/03 Ranji season game against Andhra while playing for Hyderabad.

3 – Abhimanyu Mithun became only the 3rd player to take a 5-wicket haul in Ranji, Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali tournaments in the same season. He took 6/60 against Uttar Pradesh in this round following up his 5/39 in SMA T20 semis and 5/34 in the VHT final. Rahil Shah and Karn Sharma achieved this feat during the 2015/16 season while playing for Tamil Nadu and Railways respectively.

5 – Taruwar Kohli became only the 5th player in the history of Ranji Trophy to score multiple triple centuries. Ravindra Jadeja is the only player with three Ranji triple tons while VVS Laxman, Wasim Jaffer and Cheteshwar Pujara have two 300s apiece.

10 – Ajay Mandal became only the 10th player in the history of Ranji Trophy to score a double century and take a 5-wicket haul in the same match. Ajay scored an unbeaten 241 while batting at No.8 for Chhattisgarh and took 5/60 in the 2nd innings of Uttarakhand. Among the previous nine players with this double, only two have recorded higher scores than Mandal.

Vijay Hazare scored 288 and took 6/85 against Holkar for Baroda in the 1946/47 season while Bihar’s Anand Shukla struck an unbeaten 242 and claimed 5/58 against Orissa in the 1967/68 season.

17 – Baroda recorded the 17th instance of a team winning a Ranji Trophy game by 1-wicket. This was the 2nd time that Baroda won a Ranji game by a 1-wicket margin. They defeated Haryana by this margin in the 2012/13 Ranji season while chasing 132 to win.

This was also the 2nd time that Madhya Pradesh lost a Ranji game by 1-wicket. Vidarbha chased down 172 against MP in the 1963/64 Ranji Trophy after losing nine wickets.

99.3 – The game between Haryana and Tripura hosted by Lahli completed in just 99.3 overs; the shortest known Ranji Trophy match in terms of balls bowled. The previous shortest was 100.5 overs in the inaugural Ranji match between Madras and Mysore in 1934/35 season.

241* – Ajay Mandal’s unbeaten 241 is the 3rd highest score in first-class cricket while batting at No.8 position. Cecil Maxwell scored 268 for Sir J Cahn’s XI against Leicestershire in 1935 while Wasim Akram scored an unbeaten 257 in the 1996 Sheikhupura Test against Zimbabwe.

However, the highest individual FC score while batting at No.8 or lower position is held by Victor Trumper who scored 293 for the Australians in the 1913/14 season against Canterbury.

383 – Arunachal’s Rahul Dalal aggregated 383 runs in the match against Mizoram with scores of 178 and 205*. Rahul’s match aggregate of 383 is the 3rd highest for any player in a Ranji Trophy match.

Bhausaheb Nimbalkar scored an unbeaten 443 for Maharashtra against Kathiawar in the 1948/49 Ranji season game. In the 2012/13 Ranji Quarter-Final against Karnataka, Cheteshwar Pujara amassed 389 runs by scoring 352 in the 2nd essay after 37 runs in the first innings.

399 – Chhattisgarh pair of Ajay Mandal and Amandeep Khare shared 399-run stand for the 7th wicket against Uttarakhand. This is the 2nd highest 7th wicket partnership in the history of first-class cricket. Punjab pair of Bhupinder Singh and Pankaj Dharmani put on 460 against Delhi in the 1994/95 Ranji Trophy game.

Overall, Ajay-Amandeep’s 399-run partnership is the 3rd highest FC cricket for 7th or a lower wicket as the Australian pair of Arthur Sims and Victor Trumper put on 433 for the 8th wicket against Canterbury in the 1913/14 season.