5 Lesser known batting records held by Indians in first-class cricket

3. The longest time before scoring the first run

During the 2005-06 Ranji Trophy, the Bengal team hosted Baroda in the semi-final at the Eden Gardens. Baroda were bowled out for only 241 batting through the first day while the home team got into lead by end of the 2nd day. Bengal batted four more sessions and were bowled out for 619. Bengal were expected to go through to the final on basis of a first-innings lead. With a deficit of 378 runs to be covered, Baroda settled to a strategy of avoiding an innings defeat.

Baroda were 8 wickets down before the Tea interval for the score of 205. Connor Williams, the No.3 batsman, was closing towards a century having been batted for more than six hours. He was joined by Shekhar Joshi and the duo tried to take the game as deep as possible. The pair shared a 47-run stand for the 9th wicket in 31.2 overs after spending 2 hours in the middle. Their partnership was successful in saving Baroda from a bigger embarrassment in the knockout game.

The No.10 batsman Shekhar faced 100 balls during his 120-minute stay but never scored a run. This is the longest time spent before getting off the mark in a first-class inning. Stuart Broad came close to breaking this record when he scored 6 runs in 137 minutes during the 2013 Auckland Test match. Broad got off the mark after batting for 102 minutes. The longest time spent in an FC innings without ever scoring a run before Joshi’s 101 minutes by Geoff Allot during his 77-ball duck in 1999 against South Africa.