Duleep Trophy: Shubham Sharma slams 96 vs West Zone
What's the story
Central Zone batter Shubham Sharma missed out on his second successive hundred in the ongoing Duleep Trophy. He was dismissed for 96 against West Zone in the second semi-final clash in Bengaluru. Nevertheless, Shubham played a stellar hand in the game's second innings as CZONE went past 300. This would have been his 13th hundred in First-Class cricket. Let's dissect his performance.
Knock
A solid knock from Shubham
Responding to WZONE's first innings score of 438/10, CZONE started well as Shubham arrived with the scorecard reading 67/1. He added 93 runs with opener Danish Malewar (76). In captain Rajat Patidar (77), Shubham got another potent partner as the two batters added 127 runs. Shubham was unfortunate to get run out on 96. CZONE were at 322/5 at the time of his departure.
Stats
Yet another ton from Shubham
Shubham's 96 came off 241 balls as he slammed 11 fours. Notably, he smashed 122 in the third innings of the quarter-final clash against North East Zone. The Madhya Pradesh batter overall recorded his 24th First-Class fifty (100s: 12). As per ESPNcricinfo, playing his 68th FC match, Shubham has raced to 4,397 runs at an average of 43-plus.
Ranji season
Sensational run in 2024-25 Ranji season
Shubham was on a roll in the 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season as he finished as the second-highest run-getter, only behind Yash Rathod (960). The MP skipper clocked 943 runs at an incredible average of 104.77 in just seven games. This includes three tons and four fifties, including his career-best score of 240.