Srikar Bharat – First wicketkeeper to score a triple century in Ranji Trophy

Andhra gloveman Srikar Bharat became the first player to score a triple century in Ranji Trophy as a wicketkeeper. Bharath Seervi highlights Bharat’s feat and lists the highest scores by wicketkeepers in Ranji Trophy and First-Class cricket.

In the last group match of the Ranji Trophy 2014-15 at Ongole, Andhra’s wicketkeeper and opening batsman Srikar Bharat scored a remarkable 308 runs off 311 balls that included 38 fours and six sixes. He had major partnerships of 164 runs with his fellow opener Prashant Kumar and of 333 runs stand with Muramalla Sriram, the number three batsman.

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On his route to 308, Bharat became only the second batsman to score a double-century for Andhra in First-Class cricket, surpassing Amit Pathak’s 264 as the highest individual score for Andhra in Ranji Trophy as well as in overall First-Class cricket. When he reached 283, Srikar Bharat overtook Sagar Jogyani’s record of highest individual score as a wicketkeeper in Ranji Trophy.

When he reached the triple century mark, Bharat became only the fifth player in the history of First-Class cricket to score a triple century as a wicketkeeper and the first to do in Ranji Trophy.

Triple centuries in First-Class cricket as Wicketkeeper

–          Billy Murdoch’s 314 not out was the third triple century in the First-Class cricket.

–          Srikar Bharat’s 308 is the 199th

–          Imtiaz Ahmed, born in Lahore, Pakistan, played First-Class cricket in India till Independence and then moved to Pakistan after the partition.

–          Kusal Perera completed his triple century in just 244 balls. It is the fourth-fastest First-Class triple century.

Individual innings of 250 or more in Ranji Trophy

–          The first wicketkeeper to score 250 in Ranji Trophy was Hemant Kanitkar in 1970-71.

–          CM Gautam is the only wicketkeeper to score 250s twice; he did in the same season – 2012-13.

–          Hanuma Vihari scored 263 as wicketkeeper just two days after Srikar Bharat scored 308.

Triple centuries for South Zone teams in Ranji Trophy

–          Abhinav Mukund is the third-youngest First-Class triple centurion and second youngest from India. Bharat is the fifth youngest Indian with this feat.

–          850 runs were scored when MV Sridhar was at the crease (30 for one to 880 for five) — a record in First-Class cricket.

–          The maiden triple centuries for Karnataka (by KL Rahul) and Andhra (by Bharat) have come in this season — 2014-15.

The first player to score a triple century for any South Indian team was Abdul Azeem for Hyderabad against Tamil Nadu in 1986-87.

(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)