Stats: Players who scored a century in each innings of a Duleep Trophy game

After a sensational 2016/17 season in first-class cricket, Priyank Panchal has carried on from where he left as the opening batsman from Gujarat has struck centuries in both the innings of the opening encounter of the Duleep Trophy 2017. Playing for the India Red team, Panchal scored 105 and an unbeaten 133 respectively against India Green at the Ekana International Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.

Thus the Gujarat opener became only the 11th player in Duleep Trophy history to score centuries in both innings of a match. The last player to achieve the feat was KL Rahul for South Zone while playing against Central Zone in the 2014/15 season finale. Rahul’s scores of 185 and 130 handed him the Test cap as the Karnataka player was picked for the first time in the Indian squad for the Australia tour later that year.

Dinesh Karthik stands as the only player to score twin tons in the Duleep Trophy twice as the keeper batsman struck two centuries in a DT game in 2009 and 2010 for his team South Zone. The 11 men list includes the name of England cricketer Kevin Pietersen, who scored twin tons against South Zone in 2004 when he featured for his touring England A side.

Among the 11 previous instances of a player scoring twin hundreds in a Duleep Trophy game, four have come in outright wins while three in outright losses. Karthik, Pietersen, and Rahul are the three players to score twin hundreds in losing cause as DK and KP’s efforts went in vain due to record 4th innings run-chases while Rahul’s team collapsed in the chase to lose narrowly.

Panchal, who was the highest run-getter in the 2016/17 Ranji Trophy with 1310 runs, scored 105 in the first innings from his team’s total of 323. In the 2nd innings, he remained unbeaten on 133 as his team declared on 307/2.

Instances of a player scoring twin centuries in a Duleep Trophy match:

(Stats as on September 9, 2017)