Kolkata: Call it the perfect Christmas present to his team, family and friends, Bengal Ranji Trophy player, Pankaj Shaw will never forget this special Christmas for sure. Shaw piled up an unbeaten 413 in a three-day first-division match in Kolkata organised by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) which is helmed by none other than former Indian skipper, Sourav Ganguly.

Shaw rewrote history representing Barisha Sporting that has strong links with the Ganguly family against Dakshin Kolkata Sansad in Kolkata today. The Bengal Ranji Trophy batsman hit 44 boundaries and 23 over boundaries in his innings that fetched his team four points. Dakshin Kolkata Sansad ended up on 369 all out in reply and managed two points with 96 for 2 in its second innings at the end of the match. And Shaw has some of his teammates to thank for enabling him to score over 400. He added 203 for the sixth wicket with Ajmer Singh (47) and 191 for the eighth wicket with Shreyan Chakraborty (22). Barisha riding on Shaw’s innings amassed 708 for 8 batting first.
% 8 batting first.

The local media has been going ga-ga over Shaw’s innings that substantiates the fact that even with the advent of T-20 cricket, the tenacity of batsmen to spend long time in the middle is not a thing of the past. They score fast, yet don’t throw away their wickets in a sudden rush of blood.

Another batsman from Bengal, Debabrata Das scored a triple hundred for Mohun Bagan on Saturday. Das, a former member of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) managed 315 off just 154 deliveries against Bhu Kailash in a first-division match held in the City of Joy.

And talk of big scores, who can forget Pranav Dhanawade’s unbeaten 1009 in a local match in Mumbai at the Under-16 level. It’s too early to comment whether these guys will make it big, but even if they don’t, their achievements will be a benchmark for any wannabe cricketer.

(With inputs from Agencies)