Photo: Twitter/ @BCCIdomestic

After his white ball heroics caused a bidding war among the teams in the IPL 2022 auction before Punjab Kings bagged him, Shahrukh Khan has turned to show his prowess in the red ball format.

Shahrukh not just scored his maiden first class hundred, but fell short of the 200-run mark by barely six runs. His knock helped Tamil Nadu push past Delhi’s 452 in Guwahati in the ongoing 2022 Ranji Trophy.

Snatching the first innings advantage seemed a distant reality for Tamil Nadu when, five wickets down the innings, Shahrukh walked out to bat. The scoreboard read 162/5 when he joined former captain Baba Indrajith in the middle.

Slowly, but steadily, Shahrukh first built an important 134-run partnership with Indrajith (117), and followed that up with a quicker 178-run stand with Narayan Jagadeesan, who scored a handy half-century. This stand came in just under 24 overs, at a run rate of 7.41.

Shahrukh’s knock came off just 148 balls at a strike rate of 131.04 with 20 fours and 10 maximums.

Raj Bawa makes a mark on debut

Another PBKS player who is showing exceptional promise in the ongoing Ranji Trophy is youngster Raj Bawa. The U19 World Cup hero picked up a wicket off his maiden delivery in First Class cricket.

Playing for Chandigarh, Raj accounted for Hyderabad captain and opener Tanmay Agarwal off his very first delivery, forcing a caught behind. He soon also sent Tanmay’s opening partner, Akshath Reddy, back to the stands in a similar fashion.

Raj Bawa finished with 25-4-81-2 on his debut match, albeit in a losing cause. Sandeep Sharma, who played alongside Raj in this game, finished with figures of 37-9-105-1.

Prabhsimran, Baltej shine for Punjab

Right arm medium pacer Baltej Singh put on an exceptional show with the ball for Punjab, picking up his first five-wicket haul in First Class cricket at the ongoing Ranji Trophy. He followed this first innings performance with a wicket in the second innings and finished with figures of 46-10-124-6.

Punjab opener Prabhsimran Singh scored a mature 123 (138) consisting of 21 fours and a six to help his team register a first innings lead with a score of 526 in response to Himachal Pradesh’s 324. This PBKS duo’s performance helped Punjab bag all three points in Ranji Trophy 2022 fixture.

Porel prolific in Bengal win

Meanwhile, Ishan Porel represented Bengal in their Ranji Trophy match against Baroda and made contributions crucial to his team’s win.

In the first innings, Ishan picked up four wickets, including three top order batters and one down the order, to register impressive numbers of 14-3-40-4.

In the second innings, the pacer added three more wickets to his tally in the game, with his numbers reading 19-3-70-3. In all, he bagged an applaudable 7/110 in the match. His contribution helped Bengal win by four wickets in their first Ranji Trophy 2022 match.