Flashback: The first player to score a ton in each innings of a Ranji Trophy match
Late SM Kadri, a right-handed batter, became the first player to smash centuries in both innings of the Ranji Trophy match in December 1935. He achieved the special feat by playing for Bombay against Western India at the Poona Club Ground.
Kadri made his first-class debut for Muslims against Hindus in the Bombay Quadrangular tournament in 1929/30. Since then, he played 34 FC matches and scored 1403 runs in 53 innings with an average of 26.98 and the highest score of 114.
He also mustered seven half-centuries from the period of 1929/30 to 1943/44. He entered the record books when he became the first player ever to score hundreds in both the innings of the Western Zone Ranji Trophy clash.
Speaking about the match, it began on 20th December 1935 with Bombay locking horns with Western India. The captain of the Bombay team LP Jai won the toss and elected to bat first. SM Kadri opened the innings along with the wicketkeeper Dattaram Hindlekar. The latter got out for a duck as Kadri batted sensibly and shared 59 runs stand for the second wicket with Champaklal Mehta.
Mehta got out on 25 as no other batter could really get going and no one crossed 40 runs mark as Kadri reached his maiden first-class century and remained unbeaten on 105 runs to help his team in posting 243 runs on the board in 84.5 overs. In reply, Western India got bundled out for just 181 runs in 60.1 overs to give Kadri’s side a lead of 62 runs.
In the second innings, Kadri, along with two other batters, registered centuries as the match ended up in a draw. Kadri scored 114 runs while opening the innings again with his partner bagging another duck of the match.
Interestingly, he had managed only two centuries in his FC career, and both of those tons came in the above-mentioned match against Western India. Kadri’s last fifty was for Bombay in the Ranji Trophy in 1941/42 against Sind at Bombay when he amassed 59 runs. He also played for Vizzy’s Freelooters in three matches in 1936 but they were not first-class clashes. He took his last breath on January 25, 1963, in Saudi Arabia.