Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Aug 29: Young Vidarbha batter Danish Malewar etched his name in the record books on Friday after hammering a double century for Central Zone against North East Zone in the ongoing Duleep Trophy. With this feat, the 21-year-old joined an exclusive list of batting greats including Vijay Merchant and Aravinda de Silva.

Walking in early after Aayush Pandey’s dismissal for 3(10), Malewar steadied the innings with a 139-run stand alongside Aryan Juyal (60) before forging a massive 199-run partnership with skipper Rajat Patidar (125). Bad light cut short play on day one with Malewar unbeaten on 198, surpassing his previous best of 153 in last year’s Ranji Trophy final.

Resuming on Friday, the right-hander reached his maiden double hundred with a crisp boundary in the first over, eventually retiring out on 203 off 222 balls, laced with 36 fours and a six. His unusual decision to retire out after a double ton made him only the sixth batter in first-class cricket to do so. The last such instance came in 2005, when Craig Spearman retired on 216 for Gloucestershire.

Remarkably, Malewar is the first Indian in 81 years to retire out after a double ton, following Merchant’s 201 in 1944. Earlier that year, Gogumal Kishenchand (204) was the first Indian to achieve the feat. Sri Lankan greats Marvan Atapattu and Aravinda de Silva also feature in this rare list.

Malewar’s heroics powered Central Zone to a commanding 532/4 before declaring. In response, Aditya Thakare and Harsh Dubey ripped through North East Zone’s batting, reducing them to 168/7 by stumps on day two.