It is not often that a No 11 batsman gets a hundred in first class cricket

Santhosh S12-Mar-2001It is not often that a No 11 batsman gets a hundred in first class cricket.And in 67 years of the Ranji Trophy competition, no player going in lasthad reached the three figure mark – until Sunday. The record score had beenheld by S Mubarak Ali who scored 90 for Nawanagar against Bengal way backin 1936-37. In the process, he and Yadvendrasinhji added 138 runs, a recordin the national competition that stood for 47 years. On Sunday, at thepicturesque IIT-Chemplast ground in Chennai, Vidyut Sivaramakrishnancreated Ranji history by scoring 115 in the Ranji Trophy pre quarterfinalagainst Delhi.At the fall of the ninth wicket, Vidyut, the junior India left-armspinner, walked out to join the young MR Shrinivas. Delhi captain VijayDahiya persisted with spin to get the last wicket. What followed washistory. The left handed Vidyut made 115 off just 122 balls, striking 17boundaries and three huge sixes out of the ground. In one over fromVirendra Shewag, he smashed three fours and a six, as the Delhi playershung their heads in disbelief. By the time the fast bowlers were called into the attack, Vidyut was in full flow, pulling and hooking the shortstuff bowled at him. He got to his hundred with a hook shot to long leg,where Amit Suman dropped the easy catch to give away two runs.While Vidyut had his moment of glory, the unsung hero at the other end wasShrinivas who played with a lot of responsibility to make an unbeaten 42off 141 balls with four strokes past the ropes. It was his assuring knockthat helped Vidyut to go on the rampage. By the time, the reliable Delhiseamer, Robin Singh Jr, bowled Vidyut, the two batsmen had added 158 runsfor the last wicket to take Tamil Nadu to an imposing 592 runs. The onlyhigher last wicket stand in the national competition is 233 between AjaySharma and Maninder Singh for Delhi against Bombay in 1991-92.List of Centuries by No. 11 batsmen

106*    TJ Hastings         Victoria v South Australia  Melbourne    1902-1903112*    A Fielder           Kent v Worcestershire       Stourbridge  1909126     WC Smith            MCC v Barbados              Bridgetown   1912-1913101     AER Gilligan        Cambridge Univ v Sussex     Hove         1919100*    Ahsan-ul-Haq        Muslims v Sikhs             Lahore       1923-1924121     SN Banerjee         India v Surrey              The Oval     1946163     TPB Smith           Essex v Derbyshire          Chesterfield 1947109*    Maqsood Kundi       Muslim Com Bank v Nat Bank  Karachi      1981-1982115*    GB Stevenson        Yorkshire v Warwickshire    Birmingham   1982115     S Vidyut            Tamil Nadu v Delhi          Chennai      2000-2001