Top 5 cricketers of the week – December 21st to December 27th
A massive Ranji Trophy triple, an all-round performance in a losing cause, a landmark, record-breaking double ton in one of the toughest places for visiting batsmen in a Boxing Day Test, a five-for against one of the strongest batting units playing at home and a blistering ODI century at the top – these are the five performances that mark last week’s cricket for us.
It was not short of action, whether you like Indian domestic cricket where the Ranji has reached the Semi-Final stage, ODI cricket or Test cricket, with two Boxing Day games in alternate time zones. As usual, some players stood up and made sure they sprinted towards the end of 2016 with superlative performances.
#1 Samit Gohel
Gujarat’s Samit Gohel, opening their second innings, had the task of batting out time, as his team had already gained the first innings lead, which was more than enough to send them through to the Semi-Final in the case of a draw.
Against Odisha, Samit scored 359*, the highest by any opener who carried his bat in all first-class history, not just Indian. Samit has the legendary Don Bradman for company in that it is the second-highest first class score in the second innings of a Test behind Don’s 452.
The innings made a mark in several other aspects as well. It was the third-longest knock in first-class history in terms of time and the sixth highest in terms of number of balls faced. That is one hell of an innings indeed! The joint fourth-highest score in Ranji history helped Gujarat score 641 in their second innings and bat Odisha out of the game.