Here’s why India’s Ranji Trophy stars are notching up triple tons for fun

The 2017 edition of the Ranji Trophy has seen a lot of runs so far. Two rounds have come and gone by and the third is currently underway. It is, however, safe to say the bat has dominated the ball.

In terms of totals, there has been one 700-plus score in an innings, four 600-plus and six 500-plus scores. As many as 42 centuries have been scored in just three rounds of games, along with four double tons. But, the most telling of all figures this season has been two striking triple centuries scored by Himachal Pradesh’s Prashant Chopra and Andhra’s Hanuma Vihari.

Scoring a triple century is not an easy task by any measure. It takes a lot skill, patience and strength to pull off. Surprisingly, reaching the milestone, though, is turning out to be an all too frequent affair for batsmen off late. A total of 42 triple centuries have been scored in the Ranji Trophy since its inception. Of these, as many as 20 have been notched up in the last ten years.

India’s most prolific run-getter, Sachin Tendulkar, never scored a triple ton - international or otherwise - and neither did Rahul Dravid. And that perhaps only underscores the changing scope of batsmanship in Indian cricket over the past decade.

IPL impact

Players are no longer satisfied with just a century. The thirst seems to be for a big daddy hundred that will not only attract the attention of the national selectors but also that of the IPL scouts. It’s no coincidence that this sudden burst of big knocks has coincided with the birth of Twenty20 cricket and the Indian Premier League, which has revolutionised the game in its own right.

“The game has changed quite a lot over the past decade,” says Sitanshu Kotak, a Ranji Trophy stalwart, known dead bat exponent and the current coach of Saurashtra.

“Nowadays, batsmen play a lot more strokes than we did in our time,” conceded Kotak, who was the assistant coach for IPL franchise Gujarat Lions. “The game has become more aggressive and result oriented.

“Today, Ranji Trophy is not just about showcasing one’s ability with the longer format. The IPL is definitely on the minds of most players.”

Strength and conditioning

While, desire to score a triple century is ambitious, achieving it is hardly a cakewalk. Both physically and mentally, a triple century requires batsmen to be on top of their game skill-wise and sharp with their thinking despite the long hours in the middle.

Former India cricketer and one of India’s top batting coaches Pravin Amre feels the rise in big knocks could also be attributed to the rising endurance levels of cricketers across the country, who have made fitness a key aspect of their training.

“To score 300, a batsman needs to score for at least three sessions. To play on for such a duration needs stamina,” said Amre, who was also the assistant coach for erstwhile IPL franchise Pune Warriors India. “Today’s cricketers work very hard on their fitness. Strength and conditioning are aspects that are slowly, but surely becoming intrinsic in the game, be it domestic or international.

“As years pass, and the practice of strength and conditioning continues unabated, so will the ceiling of runs scored keep rising,” Amre added.

Bowlers lacking creativity

While, no one should take anything away from a triple-centurion’s effort, the spate of big knocks does raise questions about the standard of bowling in the country. Are bowlers managing to keep abreast with the ever-evolving batting methods? Or is cricket just a batsman’s game that is following a predictable trajectory?

“Taking nothing away from the batsmen, the bowlers today clearly seem to lack creativity,” said former India and Mumbai spinner Ramesh Powar. “When I played in the Ranji Trophy, the brief was simple, one has to aim and take wickets.

“Giving the ball flight and making variations with the angles or pace were methods that we incorporated in search of wickets. Today, I don’t see bowlers try such things. Bowling flat with an aim to contain has become the norm and I am not surprised that batsmen are ruling the roost,” added Powar, who took 470 first class wickets for Mumbai in career that lasted 15 years.

Powar, who retired from cricket in 2015, said that bowlers tend to blame the condition of the pitch for their failure to pick up wickets.

“Bowlers now look to contain. Pitches have hardly changed since we played. Even we played of flat decks, but we never let the batsmen run away with it. In the past decade, stars have exclusively been batsmen. Bowlers have remained the support cast,” Powar added.

Attitude trumps all

Attributing the spurt in big knocks to the world class cricketing gear, that most players have access to nowadays, or even the flat tracks that are quite common at most venues around the country, is not an unfounded thought. However, blaming such aspects cannot alone justify an individual’s propensity to grind out 300-plus score.

“It’s a combination of most of these aspects. The change in mindset, though, is key here,” says Kotak. “We can say list out a number of circumstantial variants that has shaped the run-scoring ways of today’s cricketers, however, it is the attitude that supersedes everything.

“In a tough situation, I would go in the middle, thinking I will tire out the bowlers and fielders by just staying at the crease for a session, it did not matter if we even scored runs in that period. Today, there is no space for my old boring style,” said Kotak. “Batsmen would rather tire out the bowlers and fielders by making them run around the ground behind the ball.”