Ranji Trophy batting records: Most runs, most centuries, fastest hundred, highest partnership
The Ranji Trophy is India's biggest first-class tournament and it started in the year 1943. It is named after former England cricketer Ranjitsinhji, an Indian who represented the England side even before India played its first test match. It is an ideal platform for the players to showcase their skills and stand a chance to make it to the national side.
Ever since the tournament started, various records have been made and broken, as players give it everything in the hard-fought tournament. With the 2017-18 season already on its way let us have a look at all the batting records in Ranji Trophy.
Most Runs - 10296*
Cool-headed and technically sound, former Indian opener Wasim Jaffer is a run-machine when it comes to first-class cricket. In Ranji Trophy he is the highest run-getter. Since his debut in 1996, he has amassed 10296 runs in a 21-year long career.
Jaffer was a part of Mumbai team for nearly two decades and then moved to rivals Vidharba a couple of seasons back. Here is glimpse at his first-class career stats -
Top 5 run scorers in Ranji Trophy:
*Updated till 9th November 2017
Most half-centuries - 76
Although Wasim Jaffer is known to convert his 50s, not just to daddy 100s, but to double hundreds as well, he still tops this lists with 76 fifties in Ranji Trophy.
Most centuries - 35
Scoring 35 centuries in Ranji Trophy, out of his staggering 51 centuries in first-class cricket, Wasim Jaffer tops the list for most 100s.
Most double centuries - 7
Himachal Pradesh's Paras Dogra and Ajay Sharma (both Himachal and Delhi) share this record with seven double centuries each. Both of them have been prolific run-getters in domestic Indian cricket with over 6000 and 10000 runs respectively.
However, Ajay Sharma's career ended when he was implicated in the match-fixing scandal.
Top 5 players with most double tons in Ranji Trophy:
Most Triple centuries - 3
Sitting at No.2 in ICC all-rounder rankings, Ravindra Jadeja holds this record with three triple centuries to his name while playing for Saurashtra. He overtook VVS Laxman and Chesteshwar Pujara, who have two triple tons each.
Highest Individual Score - 443*
Bhausaheb Nimbalkar piled up 443 runs in just 494 balls while playing for Maharashtra against Kathiawar (Saurashtra) in 1948 Ranji Trophy season. Almost 70 years since the record was made, it still remains intact.
Nimbalkar also remains the only player in Ranji Trophy to score a quadruple century.
Fastest century - 48 balls
Young Delhi batsman Rishab Pant took the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy season by storm when he scored a century in just 48 balls against Jharkhand. Seen as the one who could fill in MS Dhoni's shoes, Pant cleared the boundary at will, with 12 sixes in that blistering knock.
List of fastest centuries in Ranji Trophy:
Highest partnership - 594*
Maharastra's top batsmen Swapnil Gugale and Ankit Bawane put on a massive 594-run stand for the 3rd wicket against Delhi at the Wankhede Stadium (Mumbai) in 2016 Ranji Trophy season.
Both were relentless with Swapnil scoring his career-best 351 and Ankit scoring 258. They missed the world record of highest partnership in first-class cricket by 30 runs. Had they been aware of it at that time, Gugale would not have declared.