Prashant Chopra’s 338 was the first triple-century by a Himachal Pradesh batsman in the Ranji Trophy and also the tenth-highest individual score in the history of the tournament
Bharath Seervi07-Oct-2017Himachal Pradesh’s Prashant Chopra celebrated a memorable 25th birthday with a triple-century, a rare feat. In a long history of 212 triple-centuries in first-class cricket, only three have been completed by batsmen on their birthday. The first was Colin Cowdrey, who did so on his 30th birthday in 1962, and then Raman Lamba on his 35th birthday in 1995.Chopra had a few more reasons to cherish this triple-hundred. He got close to it on the first day of the season, finishing unbeaten on 271 as Himachal piled up 459 for 2 in 90 overs. Only one batsman has scored more runs in a day in Ranji Trophy history than Chopra’s 271. Bhausaheb Nimbalkar, playing for Maharashtra against Kathiawar in 1948-49, brought up 277 runs on the second day as he went from his overnight score of 24 to 301, in his famous knock of 443 not out.
Batsman Runs Team Against Venue SeasonBB Nimbalkar 277 (24* to 301*) Maharashtra Kathiawar Poona 1948-49P Chopra 271 (0 to 271*) Himachal Pradesh Punjab Dharamsala 2017-18CA Pujara 261 (0 to 261*) Saurashtra Karnataka Rajkot 2012-13Chopra was finally dismissed on Saturday for 338 off 363 balls, the tenth-highest individual score in the history of Ranji Trophy and the maiden triple-century by a Himachal Pradesh batsman. The previous highest score for Himachal Pradesh was 271 by Rajeev Nayyar against Jammu & Kashmir in 1999-00. Nayyar had set a another record in that innings which still stands: the only player to bat over 1000 minutes in a first-class innings.
Batsman Score Team Against Venue SeasonBB Nimbalkar 443* Maharashtra Kathiawar Poona 1948-49SV Manjrekar 377 Mumbai Hyderabad Mumbai (W) 1990-91MV Sridhar 366 Hyderabad Andhra Secunderabad 1993-94VM Merchant 359* Mumbai Maharashtra Mumbai (B) 1943-44SB Gohel 359* Gujarat Odisha Jaipur 2016-17VVS Laxman 353 Hyderabad Karnataka Bangalore 1999-00CA Pujara 352 Saurashtra Karnataka Rajkot 2012-13SM Gugale 351* Maharashtra Delhi Mumbai (W) 2016-17SM Gavaskar 340 Mumbai Bengal Mumbai (W) 1981-82P Chopra 338 Himachal Pradesh Punjab Dharamsala 2017-18Chopra also holds the third-highest individual score for Himachal, the 237 against Haryana last season. Since the start of the 2016-17 season, Chopra has scored 1316 runs at an average of 73.11, which is 568 more runs than any other Himachal player. He has also hit four centuries, two of them double-hundreds, whereas all other batsmen for his team have managed only three centuries between them.Himachal declared their innings at 729 for 8 against Punjab, their highest ever total in the Ranji Trophy and also the first 700-plus total against Punjab by any team. The top three individual scores against Punjab have all come since start of last season: Chopra (338), Priyank Panchal (314*) and Deepak Hooda (293*).
