Ranji Trophy: Bihar’s Gani becomes first player to hit triple ton on first-class debut

Bihar’s Sakibul Gani waltzed into the record books, becoming the first player in the hory of the game to score a triple century on his first-class debut. Gani, son of a farmer from Bihar’s Motihari drict, scored 341 off 405 balls, hitting 56 fours and two sixes, in the Plate Group Ranji Trophy fixture against Mizoram at the Jadavpur University Campus ground in Kolkata on Friday.
After the day’s play, the Bihar team management stonewalled Gani from meeting/talking with reporters, saying there’s an “embargo” for the players. Team manager Vishnu Kumar spoke about the hardship that the young player faced while growing up. “He did a lot of hard yards. His father is a farmer, but Gani always wanted to play cricket,” Kumar said.

🚨 RECORD ALERT 🚨
3⃣4⃣1⃣ Runs4⃣0⃣5⃣ Balls5⃣6⃣ Fours2⃣ Sixes
Sakibul Gani, playing for Bihar, created a world record as he became the 1⃣st batter to score a Triple Ton on First Class debut. 👏 🔝 #BIHvCAM #RanjiTrophy @Paytm
A snippet from that landmark knock 🎥 🔽 pic.twitter.com/LXK7F0yA2N
— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) February 18, 2022
Gani came to the crease with Bihar on 71/3 on the first day on Thursday. Together with Babul Kumar, he stitched a 538-run fourth-wicket partnership, the latter remaining unbeaten on 229, as Bihar declared their first innings on 686/5.
Gani has played L A cricket before this, scoring 377 runs from 14 matches including a century. In 11 domestic T20s, he has made 192 runs. Now he has started his first-class career with a bang, albeit at the Plate level.
The highest score on first-class debut previously belonged to Madhya Pradesh’s Ajay Rothera – 267 against Hyderabad in 2018. Back in 1993-94, Mumbai’s Amol Muzumdar had scored 260 on first-class debut.
After its Covid-forced cancellation last term, the Ranji Trophy has returned this season in a different format. The Plate Group matches are being played in Kolkata and the table- toppers here would play a qualifier against the lowest-ranked pool winners among the Elite Group teams to reach the quarterfinals.
Coming back to Gani, the team manager informed that Bihar cricket chief Rakesh Tiwary has promised felicitations for him and Kumar upon the squad’s return to the state. For the record, Mizoram finished Day Two on 40/3 in their first innings.

Brief scores: Bihar 686 for 5 declared (Sakibul Ghani 341, Babul Kumar 229 not out) lead Mizoram 40 for 3 646 runs