Chinmay Sutar's 400 not out reignites Ranji Trophy records debate

Chinmay Sutar's unbeaten 400-run knock was the biggest talking point from the second round of the Ranji Trophy 2026-27 season. The right-hander became just the second batter in the history of the premier red-ball competition to record an individual score of 400. He also registered the second-highest individual score in the Ranji Trophy, only second to BB Nimbalkar's 443 not out against Kathiawar in 1948-49. Sutar, who switched from Mumbai to Mizoram earlier this year, scored 400 against Nagaland with the help of 46 fours and 7 sixes. Both Mizoram and Nagaland belong in the Plate Group, and with Sutar scoring this many runs, once again, a debate broke out regarding whether the Plate Group stats belong in the overall Ranji books.

Why it matters

For a while, chatter has suggested that the quality of the Ranji Trophy has been diluted due to the addition of six more teams to the Plate Group. Before the start of the Ranji Trophy 2026-27 season, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar had also voiced his concern towards the dwindling competition in the tournament, raising questions about the Plate Group. The Ranji Trophy is an annual domestic first-class cricket championship played in India, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, with teams representing the various member associations of the BCCI taking part. The 2026-27 Ranji Trophy is the 92nd season of the premier first-class cricket tournament in India and is scheduled to take place from 11 October 2026 to 3 March 2027. Jammu and Kashmir are the defending champions.

What happens next

Rajneesh Gupta, a senior Indian cricket statistician, scorer, and analyst, agrees with Gavaskar, saying the Plate Group statistics need to be viewed with a pinch of salt. He suggested one option is to treat the Plate Group as a qualifying stage before the main event. Under this model, the Plate Group would be treated as a preliminary qualifying tournament, and the runs and wickets scored in these matches would not be added to a player's official First-Class career totals, keeping the main Ranji Trophy record book strictly for top-tier cricket. He added that the simplest and most practical way forward is to allow Plate Group matches to remain First-Class games, but maintain two distinct record lists, one for the Elite Group and one for the Plate Group. Mohandas Menon, another senior statistician, believes that nothing can be done as long as the Plate Group matches retain first-class status. He said unless the BCCI decides that these played games are not given the first-class status, then it can be taken without being recorded in the record books, but as long as it is being considered as a first-class game, it has to be taken. The last few years have witnessed several records being set in the Plate Group. Teams like Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Sikkim have also brought other professional cricketers, players who were unable to break into their home state XI in the Elite division, and such batters or bowlers have smashed records left, right and centre. These outstation players brought high skill, but the overall competition in the Plate Group remained low; hence, they had no trouble in smashing the records. Bihar's Sakibul Ghani, during the 2021-22 season, became the first player to score a triple ton on his first-class debut, achieving the feat against Mizoram. The 2026-27 Ranji Trophy continues until 3 March 2027.

Ranji Trophy individual scoring records mentioned in the report

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Sources

• Hindustan Times

• Wikipedia: Ranji Trophy (background)

• Photo: yogendras31, Pixabay Content License (Pixabay)