Ranganath Vinay Kumar, who is popularly known as R Vinay Kumar, became the second pacer to claim 400 wickets in Ranji Trophy history.
Ranji Trophy 2019/20 has just started where the former Karnataka captain R Vinay Kumar just completed his first Ranji Trophy match for Puducherry. Before the new Ranji Trophy season opener game against Bihar, R Vinay Kumar was only three wickets behind to complete his 400 wickets in Ranji Trophy.
The 35-year-old R Vinay Kumar had the wicketless bowling figures (0/35) in the first innings of the match against Bihar. But, he was the most wicket-taker for his team during Bihar’s second innings of the match as the right-arm pacer had the bowling figures of 19.4-3-57-4. After picking up the third wicket in that innings, he completed his 400 wickets in Ranji Trophy career.
After Pankaj Singh, Vinay Kumar is the second pacer to claim 400+ wickets in Ranji Trophy history
In the last Ranji Trophy season, the right-arm pace bowler Pankaj Singh became the first pace bowler to take 400 wickets in Ranji Trophy career. Incidentally, the former Rajasthan cricketer Pankaj Singh also played for Puducherry in the last Ranji Trophy season. He has picked up 409 wickets in Ranji Trophy history. Pankaj Singh played two Tests and one ODI for India.
After the latest first-class match, Vinay Kumar has taken 401 Ranji Trophy wickets. He is eight wickets away from the most wicket-taker as a pacer in Ranji Trophy history – Pankaj Singh.
Puducherry has started this season with a victory against Bihar. After Bihar was sent to bat first, they were bundled out for 173 runs in the first innings. In reply, Puducherry scored 300 runs. Later, in the second innings, Bihar were all out on 196 runs, and Puducherry chased down the 70 runs target in the fourth innings without losing any wicket. With this 10-wicket victory, Puducherry also ended Bihar’s six-winning streak in Ranji Trophy history.
After playing 131 first-class matches, Vinay Kumar has picked up 463 wickets. The right-arm pacer has also taken 225 and 194 wickets in List A and T20 cricket career respectively.
Vinay Kumar also represented the Indian national cricket team. After making his international debut in May 2010, he has played only Test, 31 ODIs and nine T20Is where he has taken one, 38 and 10 wickets respectively. He last time played for India in November 2013.