Stats: Most runs in a single edition of Deodhar Trophy

Karnataka were blessed by the superb form of two of their top order batsmen Mayank Agarwal and Ravikumar Samarth in the ongoing 2017/18 domestic season. Mayank caught the limelight with the bulk of his runs in the Ranji Trophy and his team’s victorious Vijay Hazare campaign. Samarth, on the other hand, stood out as the 2nd highest scorer for the Karnataka team in both the tournaments. The solid batsman stood out as the leading run-getter in Deodhar Trophy with 309 runs where no other batsman scored more than 200 runs.

With Mayank recording low scores in this tournament, Samarth utilized the opportunity to bat longer and help his team post winning totals. The 25-year-old scored 117 and 85 against India ‘B’ and India ‘A’ respectively in which Karnataka won by close margins. In the final, Samarth scored a brilliant 107 after his team lost four wickets for 64 runs. His knock and CM Gautam’s 76 were crucial behind Karnataka’s total of 279/8. The 309 runs by Samarth are the 3rd most by any player in an edition of Deodhar Trophy.

Vinod Kambli scored a record 330 runs in 1999/00 season while Suresh Raina aggregated 310 runs in the 2004/05 edition. Both the left-handed batsmen scored in four innings in those season unlike Samarth, who did it in three innings only. Ajay Sharma (300 in 1997/98) is only other to score over 300+ runs in a Deodhar Trophy. As many as 12 instances of players scoring 250+ runs in a Deodhar Trophy have been recorded before this season with all the players featuring in four innings.

The Deodhar Trophy used to be a Zonal List A tournament starting from 1973/74 season to 2014/15. BCCI made the tournament into a 3-team format from 2015/16 which includes the Vijay Hazare Trophy champions and India ‘A’ and India ‘B’ teams selected by BCCI. With the 309 runs, Samarth became the first player in ten seasons to score over 250 runs in a Deodhar Trophy edition. Dinesh Karthik came close in the 2016/17 with 247 runs in only three innings.

Most runs in a single edition of Deodhar Trophy:

(Stats as on March 8, 2018)