Tons of centuries in early runfest

Chandigarh, November 3
Cheteshwar Pujara has slammed a double century, and all’s well with the world. Pujara’s form in the first two Ranji Trophy matches of the season had been very, very inadequate — he’d made 35 against Haryana and 13 against Jammu & Kashmir.
Record double
Today Pujara made 204 against Jharkhand and put the record straight, and also created a record — now he’s got the most double centuries by an Indian batsman. It was Pujara’s 12th first class double century, one more than Vijay Merchant and two more than Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid. Three of Pujara’s 200s have been made in Test matches, the other nine in domestic cricket.
79 centuries in season
The Ranji Trophy season is in its fourth round of matches, which means that 36 matches have been completed, while 12 — which began yesterday — are on right now. Two matches were abandoned without a ball being bowled. Already, 79 100s have been made in 46 matches, 12 of which are at the halfway stage. That’s a staggering number of 100s.
The top score of the season remains the 338 made by Prashant Chopra for Himachal Pradesh against Punjab at Dharamsala last month. There has been one other triple century — 302* by Hanuma Vihari of Andhra Pradesh against Chhattisgarh.
Pujara is among the six men who’ve made 200s — the best among them is Punjab’s Jiwanjot Singh with 238 against Goa. Punjab’s Abhishek Gupta, a newbie at 27, made 202 on debut against Himachal Pradesh. Eleven batsmen, including two from Punjab (Anmolpreet Singh and Gurkeerat Singh Mann) and one from Himachal (Nikhil Gangta), have made two 100s.
India future?
How many of the 68 batsmen who have made 100s this season so far can have any realistic hope of ever playing for India? Let’s exclude the ones who are India regulars, such as Pujara, or have already played for India, such as Gautam Gambhir or Ravindra Jadeja or Karun Nair.
The Indian batting-order is very, very competitive, and really exceptional players among these 100-makers have a realistic chance. Two young men stand out, both from Mumbai — Shreyas Iyer and Prithvi Shaw. Iyer, who has played one T20I, turns 23 next month and has been marked out as an India prospect for a long time. The other is Prithvi Shaw, who turns 18 next week. Shaw has been under the spotlight for almost a decade, ever since he was a small boy training to become a Mumbai player. He’s living up to the hype.
For the rest, it’s going to be a lifetime of grind at the Ranji Trophy level. Luckily, it pays well to play in the Ranji Trophy now.
12 Double centuries for Cheteshwar Pujara in first class cricket, the most by an Indian batsman
68 Different batsmen have hit 100s
79 Number of 100s in this Ranji Trophy season, from 46 matches (12 of which are underway in the fourth round). 36 matches have been completed in the first three rounds, and two of them were abandoned without a ball being bowled
337 The highest score of the season so far, by Prashant Chopra of HP
11 Number of batsmen who have made two 100s