Riyan Parag continues to impress fans and pundits with his fearless brand of cricket. After topping the scoring charts in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the premier T20 cricket tournament, the 22-year-old hit a stunning 56-ball century during Assam's Ranji Trophy, domestic First Class championship, match against Chhattisgarh in Raipur on Monday. (Streaming | More Cricket News)
During his 87-ball knock, the batting all-rounder from Guwahati, scored 155 runs with the help of 11 fours and 12 sixes. But the captain's valiant effort was not enough to save Assam as Chhattisgarh chased down the 87-run target in 20 overs for a 10-wicket win on Day 4 of the match.
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Assam won the toss and opted to bowl first. Riding on skipper Amandeep Khare's 116, Chhattisgarh posted a first innings total of 327. Assam, in reply, could manage only 159, and they were forced to follow on. Then, Parag played one of his greatest knocks.
Assam and Chhattisgarh are in Group B. Other teams in the group are Andhra, Bengal, Bihar, Kerala, Mumbai, and Uttar Pradesh.
Here is now social media reacted to the insane batting of Riyan Parag:
Parag's 56-ball century is the fourth fastest tons by an Indian batter in First Class cricket. For what's worth, West Indies great Viv Richards had also hit a 56-ball century against England. During the 2023-24 edition of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Parag scored 510 runs to help Assam reach the semi-finals. But his Indian Premier League performance for Rajasthan Royals has so far failed to live up to the expectations.
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His knock, of course, is a historic one. In the recorded list of fastest Ranji Trophy centuries, Parag's 56-ball ton is only second behind Rishabh Pant's whirlwind knock against Jharkhand in Thiruvananthapuram in 2016. The Delhi star produced a sensational 67-ball knock to score 135 runs, featuring eight fours and 13 sixes. And he reached the 100-run mark in just 48 balls.
The match also witnessed his contemporary and another wicketkeeper, Ishan Kishan hitting a double century for Jharkhand. In all, Pant his 21 sixes in the match -- the second-most ever hit in a First Class cricket match -- two fewer than the record of 23 by New Zealand's Colin Munro in 2015.
Among Indians, Yusuf Pathan (51 balls, for West Zone against Central Zone at Rajkot, during the 2007-08 Duleep Trophy) and VB Chandrasekhar (56, for Tamil Nadu against Rest of India at Madras, in the 1988-89 Irani Cup), have also hit blistering First Class centuries.
And there's the lost cause or the knock, in this case, of Shakti Singh. During the 1990-91 Ranji Trophy season, the bowler reportedly hit a century off 42 (or off 45, depending on the source) balls for Himachal Pradesh against Haryana in Dharamsala. The account has become one of Indian cricket's most intriguing anecdotes as there was no official scorer present at the match.
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Shakti Singh is not the only player whose batting exploits failed to enter the cricket scorebooks, though. There were reports of Rajesh Borah hitting a 56-ball century for Assam against Tripura during a 1987-88 Ranji Trophy match. But that knock, besides getting occasional mentions in reports, is often reduced to footnotes, often as an unofficial account.
