Bizarre new records spark debate over the tournament's diluted quality
Eight consecutive sixes. A half-century in just 11 balls. A triple hundred in three hours. A winning margin of 725 runs.
These aren't stats from a video game; they are from the official logs of the Ranji Trophy, India's most prestigious First-Class tournament. In the last few years, the record books of Indian domestic cricket have been completely rewritten, leading many to ask a difficult question: Is the Ranji Trophy losing its legendary sheen?
The latest feat to raise eyebrows came from Meghalaya's Akash Kumar Choudhary. Playing against Arunachal Pradesh, the No. 8 batsman achieved the unthinkable, smashing eight consecutive sixes. In doing so, he surpassed legends like Garry Sobers and Ravi Shastri, who famously hit six sixes in an over. Akash also blasted the fastest-ever First-Class fifty, taking just 11 balls.
While an incredible achievement, critics point to the context. This record, like many others, was set against a fledgling side. This wave of astonishing, almost bizarre, statistics began after the Lodha Committee reforms led the BCCI to expand the tournament, adding new teams, including many from the Northeast.
The goal was noble: to integrate India's entire cricketing landscape. The result, however, has been a series of deeply lopsided contests.
The debate tearing through the cricket community is whether these new records are a sign of emerging talent or a "dilution" of quality. When Hyderabad, a former Elite-group powerhouse, was relegated to the Plate group in 2023-24, their opener Tanmay Agarwal plundered 366 runs off just 181 balls against Arunachal Pradesh, including a world-record 147-ball triple century.
In 2022-23, Mumbai crushed Uttarakhand by 725 runs—the largest victory margin in First-Class history. The same season, Jharkhand piled on a 1,008-run lead against Nagaland.
For cricket fans in states like Odisha, the debate has real implications. The Odisha cricket team competes in a tough Elite group, and the value of "First-Class" cricket is paramount.
For now, the record books are clear. Akash Kumar's eight sixes are officially stamped as a First-Class feat by the ICC. But the debate is not about the legality of the records; it's about the legacy of the tournament. The BCCI faces a challenging balancing act: how to foster inclusion without sacrificing the elite quality that made the Ranji Trophy the cradle of Indian cricket.
