Diwesh Pathania’s 13 for 83: Second-best figures by an Indian on First-Class debut

Playing for Services, First-Class debutant Diwesh Pathania picked up 13 for 83 against Jharkhand in the first round of Ranji Trophy 2015-16. Bharath Seervi lists best bowling figures by Indians on First-Class debut.

Ranji Trophy 2015-16 has just started; on the second day, we have seen a record-breaking performance. Diwesh Pathania, on First-Class career debut, made it to the record books playing for Services against Jharkhand at the Palam A Ground, Model Sports Complex, Delhi. He took 13 wickets for 83 runs, and won the match for his team by 9 wickets. He is one of only 5 Indians to pick up 13 wickets on First-Class debut. His figures of 13 for 83 are the second best by an Indian on First-Class debut. READ: Diwesh Pathania’s 13-wicket haul helps Services beat Jharkhand by nine wickets

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Pathania made a mark by picking up 6 for 19 in the first innings and dismissing Jharkhand team on the first day. His figures read 16.5-9-19-6. In the second innings he returned figures of 24-3-64-7, and finished the match with 13 for 83.

Only one Indian had (slightly) better match figures on First-Class debut: Vasant Ranjane took 13 for 71 on debut, for Maharashtra against Saurashtra at the National Defence Academy Ground, Khadakvasla, in 1956-57. Since then Pathania has come closest to the feat. UPDATES: Services vs Jharkhand, Ranji Trophy 2015-16, Group C, Day 3 in New Delhi

The other Indians to take 13 wickets on First-Class debut are Jaydev Unadkat (13 for 103), GV Kumar (13 for 107) and Feroze Ghayas (13 for 110). The table below lists the details of Indians taking 12 or more wickets on First-Class debut.

Best match figures on First-Class debut by Indians (12 or more wickets)

–    Unadkat is the only bowler in the above table whose First-Class debut was not in Ranji Trophy.

–    Ranjane, Unadkat and Venatappa Muddiah are the only bowlers who went on to play Tests for India later in their career. Ranjane played 7 tests, Unadkat 1 and Muddiah 2.

–    Ranjane and Muddiah were the most successful First-Class bowlers among the above names. They picked up 175 wickets apiece; Ranjane played 64 FC matches and Muddiah 61.

–    Ramesh Kapoor played just 4 more First-Class matches and took only 3 more wickets.

–    Unadkat, Chahar and Pathania are the active players in the domestic circuit.

–    On his Test debut, Ranjane prevented Subhash Gupte from becoming the first Indian to pick up all 10 wickets in a Test innings. Gupte took 9 for 102 and Ranjane took the eighth.

–    On his Test debut, Unadkat had figures of 0 for 101 against South Africa at Centurion in December 2010.

–    Muddiah didn’t take a wicket on Test debut but took 3 in his second and final Test.

–    GV Kumar’s First-Class career lasted 11 matches, Narendra Dua’s 29 and Ghayas’ 39.

Best innings figures on First-Class debut by Indians

Ranjane has this record to his name as well. He took 9 for 35 in the first innings on First-Class debut. Amarjith Singh is the other Indian with a 9-for on First-Class debut (9 for 45 for Kerala against Assam in the second innings at Police Parade Ground, Kannur, 1971-72).

Best match figures on Ranji Trophy debut

Ranjane has the Indian record for best innings and match figures on First-Class debut, but the best figures on Ranji Trophy debut belong to someone else: playing for Services in 1950-51, Iqbal Karan claimed 14 for 104 against Eastern Punjab at Gandhi Sports Complex Ground in Amritsar.

Interestingly, two of the top three match figures on Ranji Trophy debut are by players of Services (Karan and Pathania). There have been only 4 instances of a bowler taking 13 or more wickets in a Ranji Trophy match for Services; 2 of them were making their Ranji Trophy debuts.

Bonus record:

The highest individual score by a batsman on First-Class debut is 260 by Amol Muzumdar (for Bombay against Haryana at Nahar Singh Stadium, Faridabad, 1993/94). Muzumdar is the only player to score more than 250 runs in an innings on First-Class debut. He was the first batsman to aggregate more than 9,000 runs in Ranji Trophy and remains the second-highest run-getter in the tournament — but could unfortunately not play for India.

(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)