SRH's 30 lakh retainee slams second double century in three games in Ranji Trophy
Karnataka ended their first innings of 547/8 in their Ranji Trophy clash against Chandigarh with an SRH batter slamming his second double century in three matches in the tournament.
Sunrisers Hyderabad and Karnataka star batter Ravichandran Smaran continued his strong run as he slammed his second double century in three matches in the ongoing Ranji Trophy 2025/26.
Smaran hit an unbeaten 227 in the first innings for Karnataka in their clash against Chandigarh at the KSCA Hubli Cricket Ground, Hubli. Smaran's 227 came off 362 balls and was laced with 16 fours and two sixes as he helped Karnataka score 547/8 declared on Day 2 of the clash.
This was the Karnataka batter's second double century in the last three matches of the Ranji Trophy after having scored an unbeaten 220 against Kerala in the third round clash in Mangalapuram.
Coming to Karnataka's clash against Chandigarh, the hosts were in trouble early after being reduced to 13/2 and then 64/3 before Smaran and Karun Nair put up 119 for the fourth wicket. While Nair departed five short of his century, Smaran continued and went on to slam 227* as Karnataka declared on 547/8.
Chandigarh are in trouble in their reply as they find themselves at 72/4 at the end of the second day. Captain Manan Vohra is unbeaten on 14, while Nikhil Thakur was the last batter to fall on 1 at the end of the day's play. Shreyas Gopal, who had scored 62 with the bat earlier, took three wickets as Karnataka stamped their authority to sit in the driver's seat at the end of the second day.
Talking about his IPL contract, Smaran was retained by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 30 lakh on the retention deadline on November 15. He was picked for the same price in the IPL 2025 mega auction. Smaran is yet to get a game for the 2016 champions, but his credentials hint that he is not far away.
Smaran has also played in six T20Is and has scored 170 runs at an average of 34 and a strike rate of 170.