Mumbai youngster Shreyas Iyer smashed his maiden First-Class double century in 175 balls against Punjab on October 9, 2015. His knock features among the fastest 200s in Ranji Trophy as well as the fastest among Indians in First-Class cricket, as listed by Bharath Seervi.
Shreyas’ innings is the second fastest in the tournament’s 82-year history. The only ones quicker to him were Ravi Shastri (123 balls vs Baroda, 1984-85) and Rajesh Borah (156 balls vs Assam, 1991-92). The 123-ball 200 by Shastri is the fastest double-century in First-Class cricket history. The table below lists the fastest double-centuries in Ranji Trophy.
Fastest 200s in Ranji Trophy (within 200 balls)
Balls
Batsman
Score
For
Against
Venue
Season
Result
123
Ravi Shastri
200* (123)
Bombay
Baroda
Wankhede Stadium, Bombay
1984-85
Drawn
156
Rajesh Borah
235 (193)
Assam
Bihar
MECLS Stadium, Ranchi
1991-92
Drawn
175
Shreyas Iyer
200 (176)
Mumbai
Punjab
Wankhede Stadium, Bombay
2015-16
–
178
Abdul Azeem
208 (185)
Hyderabad
Andhra
Gymkhana Ground, Secunderabad
1991-92
Won
185
Rohit Sharma
309* (322)
Mumbai
Gujarat
Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai
2009-10
Drawn
191
Vinod Kambli
207* (196)
Mumbai
Railways
Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
1997-98
Won
199
Kedar Jadhav
327 (312)
Maharashtra
Uttar Pradesh
Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium, Gahunje
2012-13
Drawn
– Shastri did it in the third innings of the match.
– Rohit Sharma and Kedar Jadhav went on to score triple-centuries.
– Four Mumbai batsmen feature in the list and all did at the Wankhede Stadium.
Considering overall First-Class cricket, Shreyas’ 175-ball 200 is the fourth-fastest double century by an Indian. Virender Sehwag scored a 168-ball double century in a Test against Sri Lanka at Brabourne Stadium during his 254-ball 293 in 2009-10.
The table below lists the other quick double centuries by Indians in First-Class cricket outside Ranji Trophy:
Fastest 200s by Indians in First-Class cricket outside Ranji Trophy (within 200 balls)
Balls
Batsman
Score
Type
For
Against
Venue
Season
Result
168
Virender Sehwag
293 (254)
Test
India
Sri Lanka
Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai
2009-10
Won
182
Virender Sehwag
254 (247)
Test
India
Pakistan
Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore
2005-06
Drawn
186
Yusuf Pathan
210* (190)
Duleep Trophy
West Zone
South Zone
Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad
2009-10
Won
188
Sachin Tendulkar
204* (192)
Tour match
Mumbai
Australians
Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai
1997-98
Won
188
Manish Pandey
218 (209)
Duleep Trophy
South Zone
Central Zone
Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad
2010-11
Won
190
Yuvraj Singh
204* (194)
Irani Cup
Rest of India
Mumbai
Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
2010-11
Won
194
Virender Sehwag
319 (304)
Test
India
South Africa
MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai
2007-08
Drawn
– Sehwag appears thrice in this list. All his 200s came in Tests.
– Yusuf Pathan’s 210* off 190 balls was in the fourth innings of the Duleep Trophy final of 2009-10 chasing a record target of 536. West Zone successfully chased it with 3 wickets in hand.
– Yusuf scored a century in the first innings as well. The opposition skipper Dinesh Karthik scored 150s (183 and 150) in each innings but ended up losing the match.
– Manish Pandey’s knock was in the semi-final of Duleep Trophy 2010-11.
– Yuvraj Singh’s knock came in the third innings of the match.
– It was Sachin Tendulkar’s maiden double century in First-Class career against the visiting Australians in a practice match. He was eventually the Man of the Series in the three-Test series played in that tour scoring 446 runs in 5 innings with two centuries and a half-century.
Shreyas made his Ranji Trophy debut last season for Mumbai and ended up as the highest run-getter for his side in the season aggregating 809 runs in 17 innings at 50.56 with 2 centuries and 6 half-centuries. He was overall the seventh highest run-getter of the season but scored 8 scores in excess of 50 — the most by any one. He looks promising and has started the season on a good note.
Bonus Trivia
Sehwag has scored 3 double centuries within 200 balls in First-Class cricket, all coming in Tests. Where balls are recorded, he is the only batsman to score three 200s in less than 200 balls in First-Class cricket. Graeme Hick, Kevin Pietersen and Graham Lloyd have scored two such 200s.
(Bharath Seervi is a cricket statistician who is obsessed with digging numbers, facts and records related to the game. An active member of Society of Cricket Statisticians of India, he blogs at www.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SeerviBharath and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SeerviCricket)
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.