Stats: Fastest double centuries by Indians in First-class cricket

The Goa team showed urgency with the bat on the first day of the 9th Round math of the Ranji Trophy 2019-20 to secure a place in the quarter-final. Goa, who were placed in Plate group, started the final round as the table toppers. The Goa team has 43 points to their credits with six wins and two drawn games. They stepped in with the need of winning the match against Mizoram as the Pondicherry team, placed at No.2 with 41 points, could well go past Goa if Mizoram were not defeated outright.

Even the 3rd placed Chandigarh (36 points) had an outside chance as Goa scored runs at 6+ an over on Wednesday. A lot of credit for that goes to Smit Patel and skipper Amit Verma. The duo shared a 301-run partnership for the 3rd wicket from only 41.5 overs which is equivalent to 7.2 runs an over. Verma smashed 8 maximums and 12 fours on his way to a 123-ball 148 while keeper-batsman Smit scored 236 from only 195. Goa declared the innings on 490/4 in 77.5 overs soon after Patel was dismissed.

Smit Patel was a part of India’s victorious 2012 U19 World Cup campaign

Smit Patel, who was part of India’s victorious 2012 U19 CWC campaign, represented Gujarat until 2015/16 season. He represented Tripura between 2016/17 and 2018/19 before moving to Goa at the start of the ongoing 2019/20 edition. The double ton by Smit Patel against Mizoram was his maiden double century in first-class cricket. He brought up the milestone in only 171 balls making it the 3rd fastest double ton in Ranji Trophy and the 4th quickest by an Indian in first-class cricket.

Ravi Shastri’s double hundred in 123 balls is still firmly placed at the top of both lists. In all First-class matches, only Afghanistan’s Shafiqullah Shinwari (89 balls in 2017/18) scored a fastest FC 200 than Shastri till date. A sort of urgency on the second day was also seen from Chandigarh as they piled up 672/8 in only 141 overs. Uday Kaul (148), Bipul Sharma (200) and Gurinder Singh (200*) scored big hundreds in the game against Manipur which was marked to be the 60000th match in First-class cricket.

Walking out to bat at No.8 position, Gurinder Singh scored an unbeaten 200 from only 171 balls equaling Smit Patel’s effort. Gurinder smashed a total of 27 boundaries during his maiden double century in first-class cricket. The rate at which he scored the double hundred kept increasing with every milestone. He got to his fifty in 57 balls and took 53 more to reach the triple figures. In the next 33 balls, Gurinder got to 150 and needed only 28 further deliveries for his last 50 runs.

Fastest double centuries by Indians in first-class cricket: (Where known)

(Stats as on February 13, 2020)