Follow UsIn a commanding display of batting and continuing his great run of form in first-class cricket, Rajat Patidar notched his maiden double century in the Ranji Trophy, leading Madhya Pradesh into a strong position against Punjab in the season opener at the Emerald Heights ground in Indore.
Patidar’s double century comes on the back of a string of consistent performances in recent months, where he has scores of 66, 101, 77, 66 and 125 in the Duleep Trophy and Irani Cup this season. Now this 205* off 332 against Punjab only reinforces his growing stature as Madhya Pradesh’s brightest batting talent.
Appointed as Madhya Pradesh’s all-format captain this season, Patidar reached the 200-run mark off 328 balls, while others around him got starts but failed to make it a big one. Only Venkatesh Iyer could score 73. Patidar’s innings surpassed his previous best first-class score of 196 made against Tamil Nadu in the 2018 season.
Patidar’s double hundred steadied Madhya Pradesh after early setbacks. Coming in at number five, he built key partnerships with Iyer first and then Arshad Khan (60*), which guided his team to a total of above 500.
In his first-class career so far, the 32-year-old has amassed over 3,350 runs in 51 matches at an average of 41.43, including six centuries.
Earlier, Punjab could make only 232 in the first innings as Saransh Jain picked 6/75 for Madhya Pradesh. In reply, Madhya Pradesh are currently batting at 519/8 with skipper Patidar unbeaten on 205*.