5 players to have scored multiple triple centuries in the Ranji Trophy

A triple century is a rare commodity in first class cricket. Only a handful of players in India's premier domestic competition, the Ranji Trophy, have scored 300 or more runs in an innings.

Since Vijay Hazare scored an unbeaten 316 against for Maharashtra against Baroda in a 1939-40 Ranji Trophy game in Pune (then Poona), Bhausaheb Babusaheb Nimbalkar became the first player to score a quadruple hundred when he scored 449 not out, also for Maharashtra, in a Ranji Trophy game against Kathiawar (now called Saurashtra) at the same ground eight years later.

It remains the highest individual score by any player in the 86-year history of the competition and was the only instance of a player going past the 300-run mark in the Ranji Trophy for over two decades till Ajit Wadekar scored 323 for Bombay against Mysore in 1967 at the Brabourne Stadium.

On that note, let us have a look at the players who have scored multiple triple centuries in the Ranji Trophy.

#5 Taruwar Kohli (2)

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Taruwar Kohli became only the third player to score multiple triple centuries in the Ranji Trophy when the 31-year old stroked an unbeaten 307 for Mizoram against Arunachal Pradesh in a drawn group-stage game in the recently concluded 2019-20 Ranji Trophy. Having made his first class debut in 2008, Kohli scored his first triple hundred (300*) in the Ranji Trophy for Punjab against Jharkhand in the 2012-13 season.

#4 VVS Laxman (2)

VVS Laxman is one of four multiple Ranji Trophy triple centurions to have gone on to play Test cricket for India. The stylish Hyderabadi right hander scored his first triple hundred in the Ranji Trophy in 1998 when he scored an unbeaten 301 against Bihar in Jamshedpur before scoring his second triple in the competition by bagging 353 against Karnataka two years later in Bangalore which is the sixth-highest individual score by any player in the history of the Ranji Trophy.

#3 Wasim Jaffer (2)

An 18-year old Wasim Jaffer became the youngest player to score a triple hundred in the Ranji Trophy when he scored 314 for Mumbai against Saurashtra in a drawn group stage game in Rajkot in the 1996-97 edition of the competition.

13 years later, against the same opposition, Jaffer scored his second Ranji Trophy triple in a drawn game at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Jaffer, who is the all-time top-scorer in the Ranji Trophy, recently announced his retirement from domestic cricket following an illustrious career spanning more than two decades.

#2 Chesteshwar Pujara (2)

One of the mainstays of the current Indian test team, Chesteshwar Pujara is one of 5 players to have scored multiple triple centuries in the Ranji Trophy. Pujara scored an unbeaten 302 for Saurashtra against Orissa in a group stage game in the 2008-09 edition of the competition in Rajkot before scoring 352 against Karnataka in a drawn game in 2012-13.

#1 Ravindra Jadeja (3)

Ravindra Jadeja is the only player to score three triple centuries in the Ranji Trophy.

The allrounder scored 314 for Saurashtra against Orissa in 2011-12 before going on to become the first player to score multiple triple hundreds in a Ranji Trophy season when he bagged scores of 303 not out against Gujarat in Surat and 331 against Railways in Rajkot in 2012-13.

In the process, the lefthander joined an exclusive group of only 8 players to have scored 3 or more triple hundreds in domestic cricket, the others being WG Grace (3 for Worcestershire), Bill Ponsford (4 for Victoria), Don Bradman (2 for Victoria, 2 for Australia, 2 for New South Wales), Wally Hammond (1 for England, 3 for Gloucestershire), Graeme Hick (3 for Worcestershire), Brian Lara (2 for West Indies, 1 for Warwickshire), and Michael Hussey (3 for Northamptonshire).

#Note: All statistics as of March 15, 2020