SOVIMA: Mizoram batter Chinmay Sutar etched his name into the history books of Indian cricket on Monday, scoring an unbeaten 400 against Nagaland on the second day of the Ranji Trophy 2026 Plate Group fixture at the Nagaland Cricket Stadium in Sovima — and becoming only the second Indian batter ever to register a quadruple century in a first-class innings.
The 29-year-old right-hander, playing only his second first-class match, compiled his monumental innings off 517 balls, studded with 46 fours and seven sixes. Resuming the day within sight of a landmark few Indian batters have even approached, Sutar was unbeaten on 392 at the tea interval before reaching the coveted 400-run mark in the 155th over of the innings. Mizoram declared their first innings at 581 for 9 soon after, with Sutar carrying his bat through the innings.
The innings places Sutar in the most exclusive company in the sport's history. He is only the second Indian to score 400 or more in a first-class innings, following in the footsteps of the legendary BB Nimbalkar, whose unbeaten 443 for Maharashtra against Kathiawar in Pune in the 1948-49 season had stood as the Indian record for 78 years.
Sutar's 400 not out is now the second-highest score in Ranji Trophy history, surpassing Prithvi Shaw's 379, and the highest first-class score by an Indian batter since Nimbalkar's feat.
Globally, Sutar became just the 10th batter to reach 400 in first-class cricket, joining a pantheon that includes Brian Lara, Don Bradman, Hanif Mohammad, Bill Ponsford, Aftab Baloch, Graeme Hick and Sam Northeast. Lara, whose 501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham in 1994 remains the highest first-class score ever recorded, is the only batter to have crossed 500.
The innings was also remarkable for the company Sutar kept at the crease. He added an unbroken 190 runs for the 10th wicket with Lalrempunia Chhakchhuak, the third-highest last-wicket partnership in Ranji Trophy history. The stand fell 43 runs short of the all-time record of 233, set by Ajay Sharma and Maninder Singh for Delhi against Mumbai in the 1991-92 season.
For a number eleven to hold up his end through nearly two hundred runs of a quadruple-century partnership speaks volumes about the composure of both batters under the Sovima sun.
What makes the achievement even more extraordinary is the timing. Sutar made his first-class debut only in the previous match, against Manipur, where he announced himself with scores of 35 and 99 — falling one run short of a century in the second innings after being run out. To follow that debut with a quadruple century in his very next outing is a feat without parallel in recent Indian domestic cricket.
Sutar's journey to Mizoram has been an unusual one. A product of Mumbai's fiercely competitive cricketing ecosystem, he represented Mumbai in the Vijay Hazare Trophy earlier this year, playing five List-A matches in which he scored 134 runs with a highest of an unbeaten 104.
Seeking greater opportunities at the first-class level, he obtained a No Objection Certificate from the Mumbai Cricket Association and moved to Mizoram, one of the newer teams in the domestic circuit competing in the Plate Group.
The move paid immediate dividends in the shortest format as well. In June this year, Sutar steered the MSC Maratha Royals to the successful defence of their Mumbai T20 League title, scoring 212 runs in six innings at a strike rate approaching 120. His ability to adapt across formats — from the measured accumulation of a 517-ball marathon to the urgency of T20 cricket — marks him out as a batter of rare versatility.
The Plate Group of the Ranji Trophy, featuring the relatively newer domestic sides, has in recent seasons produced some remarkable individual performances, and Sutar's innings will rank among the finest. The competition's history is rich with monumental scores — from Nimbalkar's 443 to Sanjay Manjrekar's 377, from VVS Laxman's 353 to Cheteshwar Pujara's triple centuries — but the quadruple century had remained untouched by an Indian batter for nearly eight decades.
The significance of the milestone extends beyond the numbers. In an era when the relentless calendar of franchise T20 cricket is often said to have eroded the appetite for long innings, Sutar's 517-ball vigil stands as a testament to the enduring values of first-class cricket: concentration, patience, physical endurance and the ability to bat through sessions.
His innings spanned the better part of two days, demanding sustained focus against an attack that, to its credit, kept probing for nearly 155 overs.
Former cricketers and commentators were quick to hail the achievement, noting that quadruple centuries are among the rarest feats in the sport. Only a handful of batters in the 150-year history of first-class cricket have reached the landmark, and each such innings has become part of the game's folklore — from Bradman's 452 not out to Hanif Mohammad's 499, from Lara's 501 to Northeast's 410 not out for Glamorgan.
For Mizoram cricket, the innings represents a landmark moment. The state's team, which entered the Ranji Trophy fold in the 2018-19 season along with the other northeastern sides, has been steadily building its presence in domestic cricket. A quadruple century by one of its batters — and a record last-wicket stand — will provide enormous inspiration to young cricketers across the region.
For Sutar personally, the innings could prove transformative. At 29, he is at an age where domestic performances are scrutinised closely by national selectors, and an innings of this magnitude — in only his second first-class appearance — is impossible to ignore. Whether it opens doors to higher honours remains to be seen, but he has ensured that his name will forever be mentioned alongside Nimbalkar's in the record books.
The statistical footprint of the innings is staggering. Sutar's 46 boundaries alone accounted for 184 runs, with his seven sixes adding a further 42, meaning well over half his runs came in boundaries even across a 517-ball stay. Such sustained boundary-hitting across two days, combined with the strike rotation needed to keep the scoreboard moving through long quiet periods, underlines the completeness of the performance.
As Mizoram's bowlers took the field with a mammoth total behind them, the cricketing world paused to acknowledge a truly historic day in Sovima — the day the 78-year wait for India's second first-class quadruple century finally ended.
(Reporting based on ESPNcricinfo and PTI.)