Ranji Trophy: With Akash Deep’s 18-ball fifty, Bengal breaks 129 years old first-class record

The Ranji trophy quarter-final game between Bengal and Jharkhand saw the former side break a historical 129-year-old record in first-class cricket.

All 9 Bengal batters score 50+ runs in a single innings

Batting first, Bengal posted a mammoth first innings score of 773/7, and in the process, each of the 9 Bengal batters registered 50+ scores; the most till date in a single innings of a first class cricket match. Prior to this, the record was achieved by the Australians against the Cambridge University Past and Present way back in 1893.

In Ranji Trophy’s all-time history, Maharashtra and Holkar registered 7 50s each in a single test match innings, which was the previous best record in the Indian domestic circuit leading upto this match.

Maharashtra had achieved this feat against Northern India in the 1940/41 season, while Holkar had pulled off this achievement against Mysore in the 1945/46 season. Interestingly, each of these three matches have been some form of a knockout game; the Bengal vs Jharkhand clash being a quarter-final, while the other two games were semi-finals in their respective seasons. 

Number 9 batter Akash Deep slams 18-ball 53

The 9 Bengal batters who feature in this record-breaking lineup are Abhishek Raman, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sudip Gharami, Anustup Majumdar, Manoj Tiwary, Abishek Porel, Shahbaz Ahmed, Sayan Mondal, and Akash Deep. Of all of them, Sudip top-scored with a brilliant knock of 186 that allowed Bengal to take control over the game.

But the distinction for being the most destructive batter has to go to Akash Deep hands down. Coming into bat at number 9, Akash played smashed 8 sixes and played a blinder of an innings to score 53 runs off 18 balls.

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Social media had some reactions of praise for the Bengal batters for having pulled off such a commendable feat Here are some of the most interesting ones: