Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], August 29 : Vidarbha batter Danish Malewar joined an exclusive club featuring former greats Vijay Merchant, Aravinda de Silva and others after hammering a double ton for Central Zone against North East Zone in the ongoing Duleep Trophy on Friday.
On the opening day, the 21-year-old stepped on the crease after Aayush Pandey fell in the third over for a mere score of 3(10). He restored the state of calmness by forging a 139-run stand with Aryan Juyal (60) and then added 199 runs with captain Rajat Patidar (125), who served as the stand-in skipper in the absence of Dhuv Jurel.
Stumps were forced to be taken early on day one due to bad light, and the rain eventually arrived in Bengaluru. Malewar stood unbeaten at 198 at that point, his best in the first-class format, toppling his previous best of 153, which came from his bat in last season's Ranji Trophy final.
Resuming his innings on Friday morning, Malewar continued to dazzle and went past the 200-run mark with a boundary in the first over to notch his first double hundred for the first time in his professional career.
With a whopping 36 fours and a towering maximum, he decided to retire out on 203(222), allowing Shubham Sharma to leave his mark in the fixture. In recent times, it isn't a usual sight to see a batter retire in a first-class game. It has been more evident in the T20s, when teams try to switch the flow or seek an impact in their favour.
After retiring on a 200-plus score, Malewar joined a special club that features just six members. The last batter to retire out after crossing 200 before Malewar was Craig Spearman (216). He represented Gloucestershire against the Oxford University Centre of Cricketing Excellence in 2005. Spearman's score still stands as the highest recorded in first-class cricket for a batter who retired out.
After Vijay Merchant, Malewar is the first Indian to do so in 81 years. Merchant retired out on 201 while playing for the Cricket Club of India against Services XI in December 1944.
Notably, the first instance of a player retiring out in first-class format after hammering a double ton was also an Indian: Gogumal Kishenchand (204) for CK Nayudu's XI against DB Deodhar's XI in March 1944.
Sri Lanka's Marvan Atapattu is still the only batter to retire out after a double century in Test cricket. Aravinda de Silva, another Sri Lankan, also features in the list after he retired out on 202 for Sri Lankans against Mashonaland Country Districts in Harare in 1994-95, according to Wisden.
His heroics, along with vital contributions from his compatriots, propelled Central Zone to 532/4, who decided to declare their innings at that point. In reply, Aditya Thakare and Harsh Dubey tore through the North East Zone's batting unit, leaving them threadbare at 168/7, after the end of day two.
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