Ex-India U19 Captain Marks First Game As Skipper With Maiden First-Class Hundred | Cricket News

Uday Saharan has scored his maiden first-class hundred against Goa (Picture credit: ICC)

Star Punjab batter Uday Saharan, who led the India U19 team in last year’s World Cup, has marked his first match as captain of the team with his maiden first-class hundred in the Ranji Trophy, in what has come as a massive boost to the 21-year-old’s nascent career in red-ball cricket.

Opting to bat first, Punjab found themselves at 59/4 in just the 29th over before Saharan and Ramandeep Singh added 33 runs for the fifth wicket. After the latter was dismissed by Arjun Tendulkar, Saharan and wicketkeeper Salil Arora built a 123-run partnership for the sixth wicket.

At the end of the day’s play, Punjab are at 215/5 in 87 overs, with Saharan batting on 100 and Arora on 51.

For Goa, Deepraj Gaonkar picked up 2/22, while Tendulkar, Vasuki Koushik and Mohit Redkar chipped in with a wicket each.

Featuring in just his third first-class game, Saharan notched up his second fifty-plus score in the format, having earlier made 75 off 169 on debut against Madhya Pradesh last month.

For this game, Saharan was handed the leadership even though Naman Dhir, Punjab’s designated captain for the season, who led against Madhya Pradesh and Kerala, was part of the XI as well.

The team hasn’t provided any official explanation for the change. Saharan now boasts a brilliant average of 82.66 from three first-class matches, but has yet to feature in a T20 or List A game.

Though this was only his third first-class outing, leadership is nothing new for Saharan. He led India to the final of the 2024 U19 World Cup, where they finished runners-up to Australia.

Saharan’s captaincy was complemented by stellar batting performances, as he topped the tournament charts with 397 runs.

While Saharan scored a hundred against Nepal, his most crucial innings came in the semifinal against South Africa. With India reeling at 32/4 in pursuit of 245, he stitched a match-turning 171-run stand with Sachin Dhas (96) to script a memorable comeback win.