Priyank Panchal enters the record books: The 26 year old Priyank Kirti Panchal of Gujarat entered into the ‘record books’ by becoming the first-ever batsman from the state Ranji Team to score 1,000 runs in a season.
This feat he achieved while playing in the ongoing game against Tamil Nadu at the KSCA Stadium, Belagavy.
Axar Patel led Gujarat, winning the toss and electing to bat, were in dire straits facing the Tami Nadu bowlers, while Panchal, who opened the innings, single handedly carried the ‘run-scoring’ responsibilities on his shoulder.
With very little or no support coming from the other batters, Panchal played a very patient and matured innings while registering his 10th First Class century in his 79th innings. He built up small partnerships along the way, the best being the 67-run fourth-wicket partnership with Manpreet Juneja (25).
Facing 180 deliveries, Panchal notched up 113 runs studded with 17 hits to the fence, before becoming the first victim of Baba Apatajith and the fifth wicket to fall.
The gritty innings of Priyank Panchal helped his team to put up a respectable total of 267 runs for the loss of 7 wickets at draw of stumps on Day 1.
Prior to this innings, he also had scores of 17 (against Baroda), 18 and 101 (against Railways), 60 and 35 (against Uttar Pradesh), 62 and 29 (against Madhya Pradesh), 232 and 56*(against Mumbai) and 314* against Punjab.
Having featured in 50 FC games (including the ongoing match – 79 innings – unbeaten on four occasions), Panchal has accumulations of 3,258 runs, at an average of 43.44, with 314* being his individual best. He also has 10 centuries and 11 half-centuries to his credit.
With one more innings to go in the ‘round robin’ stage and the knockout stage coming up, Panchal will get more opportunities to increase his tally.
Currently he is on top of the ‘Most runs scored’ list for the current season. Having played in 11 innings (including the ongoing game – unbeaten twice), Panchal has scored 1,037 runs at an average of 115.22 with 314* as his best. Four centuries and three half-centuries are also to his credit.
The BCCI selectors would do well to keep a track of this talented batsman’s performance during this season.
