I'll be honest — when the headline flashed across my screen this evening, I thought it was a typo. 400 not out. In a Ranji Trophy match. In only his second first-class game. I checked three different sources, rubbed my eyes, and then just sat there smiling. Cricket still knows how to surprise you.
Chinmay Sutar, a 29-year-old batter who moved from Mumbai to Mizoram this season, has done something no Indian batter has managed in 78 years. On Monday, October 19, 2026, at the Nagaland Cricket Stadium in Sovima, he finished unbeaten on 400 off 517 balls against Nagaland in a Ranji Trophy Plate group fixture — only the second quadruple century in the history of Indian first-class cricket.
The Ranji Trophy — Sutar's 400* is only the second quadruple century in the tournament's history. (Image: Wikimedia Commons, public domain)
What Happened?
Mizoram resumed Day 2 at 331/5 and promptly slipped to 392/9. Sutar was on 231 when last man Lalrempuia Chhakchhuak walked in. What followed was pure theatre: the pair added an unbroken 189 runs for the tenth wicket, Chhakchhuak contributing just 14 off 76 balls while Sutar did all the damage. Earlier, Sutar had shared a 168-run stand with Jehu Anderson (69) that held the innings together.
Sutar was 392 at tea, reached 400 in the 155th over — with 46 fours and seven sixes — and Mizoram declared at 581/9. He had batted for more than five sessions and carried his bat through the innings.
The Records That Fell
- Only the second Indian to score 400 in first-class cricket, after B. B. Nimbalkar's 443* for Maharashtra against Kathiawar in the 1948–49 season.
- The second-highest individual score in Ranji Trophy history, going past Prithvi Shaw's 379 against Assam in January 2023.
- The third-highest last-wicket partnership in Ranji history (189*), 43 short of the all-time record of 233.
- Only the tenth batter in first-class history to reach 400 — a club that includes Brian Lara (501*), Don Bradman, and Pakistan's own Hanif Mohammad (499 for Karachi against Bahawalpur in 1959).
- His 400* was his maiden first-class century — the highest maiden hundred in first-class history, beating Sakibul Gani's 341.
- He made 68.8% of Mizoram's total — only one other batter crossed fifty.
B. B. Nimbalkar, whose unbeaten 443 in 1948 stood alone for 78 years. (Image: Wikimedia Commons, public domain)
From Mumbai to Mizoram: Sutar's Story
This is the part I love most. Sutar wasn't some teenage prodigy fast-tracked by the system. He played the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Mumbai earlier this year, did well in Mumbai's local leagues — including a title-winning run for MSC Maratha Royals in the Mumbai T20 League in June — and then took a NoC from the Mumbai Cricket Association to start over with Mizoram, a Plate-group side. He made his first-class debut only last week against Manipur, scoring 35 and 99 in a three-wicket defeat. And then, in his third first-class innings, he produced this.
"It feels like a dream," he told Cricinfo afterwards. And here is my favourite detail: he said he didn't even know what the Ranji record was until he reached 380. "Suddenly there were claps from the dressing room... That's when I found out."
Prithvi Shaw, whose 379 against Assam in 2023 was the previous second-highest Ranji score. (Image: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0)
Why This News Matters — My Analysis
Look, I know what some of you are thinking — Plate group, Nagaland's attack, weaker opposition. Fair enough. But let me push back: 400 is 400. You still have to survive 517 balls, bat for more than five sessions, and not get out once. Concentration like that is not opposition-dependent.
And there is a bigger point here that I feel strongly about. Just yesterday, Salman Agha stood in Rawalpindi after his match-winning 107 against Sri Lanka and pleaded for people to respect domestic cricket. Sutar is the living proof of that argument — a 29-year-old who walked away from Mumbai's crowded dressing room, backed himself in a smaller pond, and produced one of the greatest innings in the tournament's history. The domestic circuit is not a graveyard; it is a second chance.
What next? At 29, Sutar is unlikely to play for India — let's be honest about that. But an innings like this gets you noticed: IPL scouts, India A conversations, a proper contract. The question now is whether he can back it up through the season. One monster innings makes headlines; a monster season makes careers. I will be watching Mizoram's scorecards closely.
Indian cricket is having quite a week off the field too — the BCCI just named Pragyan Ojha as its chief selector, the national side's squads for the New Zealand tour show how fierce the competition is for every spot, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar's recall for the Bengaluru decider proves domestic performances still open doors. Stories like Sutar's are exactly why the pipeline matters.
Ranji Trophy match action — the grind Sutar turned into history. (Image: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Conclusion
Seventy-eight years. That is how long B. B. Nimbalkar's 443* stood alone. Chinmay Sutar didn't break it, but he joined it — 400 not out, in his second first-class match, carrying his team's innings on his shoulders. Whatever happens next in his career, October 19, 2026 is his forever.
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Sources
- Cricinfo — "Chinmay Sutar scores 400* for Mizoram in Ranji Trophy" and "Ranji Trophy: Chinmay Sutar goes from Mumbai to Mizoram and into the record books"
- Wisden — "400* off 517: Chinmay Sutar enters elite first-class club with historic Ranji knock"
- Cricbuzz — Ranji Trophy round two highlights
- Deccan Herald — "Mizoram batter Chinmay Sutar scores historic 400"