Picture Credit: BCCI
Although the passionate cricket fans love some fight between the bat and ball, it seemed to be all one-way traffic during the Ranji Trophy pre-quarterfinal match between Jharkhand and Nagaland. It was the Jharkhand batters, especially the middle-order and the lower-order, who decided to make merry of the brilliant batting conditions at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The fact that the Nagaland bowlers could not pose a threat, played to their advantage.
Consequently, the Saurabh Tiwary-led team has posted a massive 880 runs on the board which was the score for which they were bowled out. Although the team was reeling at 64/2 at one stage and later at 186/4, a 175 run stand between Virat Singh and Kumar Kushagra got the team the impetus before which the runs started coming with relative ease for them. Singh eventually departed for 107 while 17-year-old wicketkeeper-batter Kushagra scored 266.
However, that was not all as the lower order batters made the most of the tired opposition bowlers with Anukul Roy (59), Rahul Shukla (85*) and Shahbaz Nadeem (177) all making it count with the bat. The eventual total of 880 runs happens to be the fourth-highest Ranji Trophy team of all times.
It is only the seventh instance of a team breaching the 800-run mark in the first-class cricket tournament and is the highest total at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
Highest Team totals in Ranji Trophy history
944/6d - Hyderabad vs Andhra Pradesh, Secunderabad (1993-94)
912/8d - Holkar vs Mysore, Indore (1945-46)
912/6d - Tamil Nadu vs Goa, Panaji (1988-89)
880/10 - Jharkhand vs Nagaland, Kolkata (2021-22)
855/6d - Mumbai vs Hyderabad, Mumbai (Bombay, 1990/91)
826/4 - Maharashtra vs Kathiawar, Pune (Poona, 1940/41)
826/7d -Meghalaya vs Sikkim, Bhubaneswar (2018/19)
d denotes- Innings declared