Karnataka Ranji Trophy pair fall short of ultra-rare twin twin tons after India international’s stranding on 86

Rahul-Smaran miss rare feat but Karnataka ease into final

Karnataka will face Jammu & Kashmir in the final of the 2025/26 Ranji Trophy. In the semi-final at Lucknow, they amassed 736 and bowled out Uttarakhand for 233, and batted a second time despite a 503-run lead. A second-innings total of 323 – a whopping 1,059 across the two innings – helped them set an improbable 827: Uttarakhand finished on 260-6.

Karnataka’s massive first-innings total was built around captain Devdutt Padikkal’s 232, while KL Rahul (141) and R Smaran (135) made hundreds as well.

Also read: Ravichandran Smaran, a future all-format star in the making

Rahul batted down the order in the second innings as wicketkeeper Kruthik Krishna opened with Mayank Agarwal. Getting together at 122-4, Smaran and Rahul put on 168 for the fifth wicket. Smaran eventually fell for 127, his second hundred of the game.

With an injured Padikkal unable to bat, Karnataka quickly folded for 323. Rahul hit out towards the end, but could not get to a second hundred: he was left stranded on a 103-ball 86 with five fours and five sixes.

Had Rahul got a second hundred, he and Smaran would have become the 11th pair of teammates to score twin tons in the same first-class match. Four of the previous instances have come in Test cricket. The list includes two pairs of brothers, Bill and Tip Foster, and (in a Test match), Ian and Greg Chappell.

Two teammates scoring twin tons in the same first-class match

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