Smaran Ravichandran scores century on Karnataka captaincy debut
Smaran Ravichandran's unbeaten century on captaincy debut helped Karnataka recover from 22 for four against Andhra.
Smaran Ravichandran scored his eighth first-class century on his captaincy debut as Karnataka reached 250 plus against Andhra on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy match on Sunday. Smaran came to the crease at 22 for four after KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal and Karun Nair fell cheaply.
The 23-year-old remained unbeaten on 109 and became one of few batters in Ranji history to score a century on captaincy debut. Smaran was the highest run-getter in the 2025-26 season with 950 runs from 14 innings at an average of 86.36 including four centuries.
He recently scored a century for Rest of India in the Irani Cup and is part of the India A squad for the New Zealand tour. Karnataka will hope he converts the innings into a double century on day two.
CricHubb Take
Smaran's consistency across seasons shows that domestic run-scoring at this level now carries direct weight in national selection conversations.