Since 2011, Paras Dogra has scored at least one double century in every edition of the Ranji Trophy. That’s an enviable record because the 31-year-old is one of only two batsmen — Ajay Sharma is the other — with seven such scores in the country’s premier domestic competition.
This year, Dogra has hardly put a foot wrong. With 703 runs in the Ranji Trophy, 258 in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and 183 in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, he is one of the most consistent performers around.
Against Tamil Nadu on Saturday, Dogra smashed a brutal 79 off just 33 balls (7x4, 5x6) as Himachal Pradesh ran away with the game to keep alive its hopes of making the Super League in Mumbai.
Chasing 169 for its third win of the competition, Dogra single-handedly took Himachal past the finishing line in just 16.5 overs.
Sunday promises to be a cracker of a day as toppers Vidarbha (Points: 16; Net Run Rate: -0.258), Tamil Nadu (12; +1.258), defending champion Gujarat (12; +0.718) and Himachal (12; +0.239) are all in contention for the two available knockout berths.
Hyderabad, Bengal and Haryana are out.
Dogra walked in at the fall of Prashant Chopra in the seventh over. He started off with a ferocious cut for four before obliging his teammates with some astonishing six hitting.
At the fag end of the game, the ball soared so high that it took the organisers a few minutes to fetch it from the remote corners of the virtually empty stadium.
Earlier, Tamil Nadu opener K. Bharath Shankar (41, 24b, 9x4) impressed on debut.
A middle-order collapse reduced the ‘Yellow Brigade’ to 93 for six, and that’s when skipper R. Satish turned on the style with an unbeaten 21-ball 41 (3x4, 3x6) in the company of J. Kousik (27 n.o., 18b, 1x4, 2x6).
Tamil Nadu collected 65 off the last five overs, including an astonishing 25 in the last over by Akshay Chauhan. Dogra, however, had other ideas.
The scores: Tamil Nadu 168 for six in 20 overs (K. Bharath Shankar 41, R. Satish 41 n.o., J. Kousik 27 n.o.) lost to Himachal Pradesh 173 for four in 16.5 overs (Paras Dogra 79 n.o.). Points: Tamil Nadu 0(12), Himachal 4(12).
Hyderabad 139 for seven in 20 overs (Akshath Reddy 37, G. Hanuma Vihari 40, Ravi Thakur three for 29, Akshay Karnewar two for 20) lost to Vidarbha 142 for five in 20 overs (Faiz Fazal 25, Apoorv Wankhade 43 n.o., Urvesh Patel 33, Chama Milind two for 26). Points: Hyderabad 0(8), Vidarbha 4 (16).
Haryana 127 for three in 20 overs (Nitin Saini 74 n.o., Mohit Hooda 38) bt Bengal 110 for eight in 20 overs (Wriddhiman Saha 32, Harshal Patel two for 16, Amit Mishra four for 30). Points: Haryana 4(4), Bengal 0 (8).
