We have seen
some big innings ~ and only recently Karun Nair made Chepauk memorable by
scoring a 303* against England in the 5th Test – Dec 2016. I remember
buying that Sportstar that captioned ‘Hick, Hick, Hick, Hick’ – in 1988 - Graeme
Hick, Worcestershire's 21-year-old (then) prodigy, finished on 405 not out against
Somerset at Taunton. That was the highest championship score since Archie
MacLaren's 424 for Lancashire in 1895, also at Taunton.
Records are
meant to be broken and Lara, who had a 400 in Test went on to score an unbeaten
501 for Warwickshire against Durham in
1994. Prior to that the record, held by
Hanif Mohammad for 35 years, always appeared as unattainable as Gary Sobers'
Test record had.
Not many of us would have
been following the 3rd QF of Ranji played at Sawai Mansingh Stadium,
Jaipur and the feat of Gujarat winning by the 1st innings lead and
entering the Semis. In the first essay,
they lost the openers SB Gohel and PK Panchal before 10 was on board ! – and do
you know them ? Jusprit Bumrah’s 5/41
ensured their lead – then came the 2nd innings essay of Gohel.
Samit Gohel reportedly had been portrayed as a ‘strokeless wonder’ in Gujarat cricket
circles. He had a strike rate of 36.01 in 27 First-Class matches before the
ongoing Ranji Trophy quarterfinal against Odisha. “He
used to defend even half-volleys during the early part of his innings. He could
play all the shots but hardly used his full repertoire. He had a kind of mental
block. I’m happy that he has managed to get over it,” Gujarat coach Vijay Patel
told The Indian Express on a day when Samit scored his maiden double hundred in
First-Class cricket, hitting 33 fours and a six, at a strike rate of 47.02.
At stumps on Day Four, he
was batting on 261, all but securing Gujarat’s passage to the semifinal – for
the first time since the 1950s, according to the team coach. Lot more was to
happen as he finished unbeaten on 357 – becoming the highest scorer by an
opener who carried his bat in first-class history. Bobby Abel achieved this for
Surrey against Somerset in 1899. Gujarat's Samit Gohel carried his bat during
the 359 not out against Odisha to set a new record in the Ranji Trophy
quarter-final in Jaipur. WG Grace (318* in 1876) and Bill Ashdown (305* in
1935) are the only others triple-centurions to carry their bat. The highest by
an Indian who carried his bat prior to Tuesday was Dheeraj Jadhav, who made an
unbeaten 260 for India A against Kenya in 2004.
BB Nimbalkar's 443 not out
in 1948-49, Sanjay Manjrekar's 377 in 1990-91 and MV Sridhar's 366 in 1993-94
top the list. Gohel equalled Vijay Merchant's score, made in 1943-44. He faced 723 balls and spent 964 minutes at
the crease.
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
27th Dec 2016.
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