Chinmay Sutar Breaks Bill Ponsford's 123-Year First-Class Record, Explained

Chinmay Sutar has gone past the first-class record associated with Bill Ponsford for the most runs in a batter's first five innings, Hindustan Times and CREX reported on 3 November 2026, during Mizoram's Ranji Trophy match against Arunachal Pradesh. HT called it a 123-year world record and said he eclipsed Ponsford's 724, set between 1921 and 1923, while scoring a third consecutive century. CREX said the milestone came at a cumulative 748, while he was 89 not out.

Those are two snapshots, not one finished total. HT's live file at about 4:45 pm IST had him on 131 not out. No official board scorecard is reproduced here. Treat the live figures as provisional until a match scorecard is final.

The 60-second version

• Who: Mumbai-born, 29. Moved from the Mumbai Cricket Association to Mizoram for the 2026-27 Ranji Trophy Plate. Two List A games for Mumbai (2019 and the 2026 Vijay Hazare). No first-class cricket for Mumbai.
• First four innings: 35 and 99 (run out one short) vs Manipur, 400 not out vs Nagaland, 125 vs Meghalaya. Total 659.
• The 400: Off 517 balls, 46 fours and seven sixes, at Sovima (NEInsider). Second Indian quadruple century in the Ranji Trophy after Bhausaheb Nimbalkar's 443 not out (1948-49). Maiden first-class hundred. Mizoram declared on 581 for 9.
• Four-innings mark: 659 broke the mark associated with William (Bill) Ponsford, about 616 in his first four innings for Victoria, 1921-23 (Times Now).
• Five-innings mark, 3 November: CREX says it fell at 748, past Ponsford's 724, while Sutar was 89 not out. HT's later live read: a third straight century, 131 not out off 226 at about 4:45 pm, Mizoram 358 for 3. Stumps in that file: Arunachal Pradesh 285, Mizoram 366 for 3.
• Still standing: Sakibul Gani (Bihar) after one, two and three innings (341, 439, 540). Bashir Shah after six innings (831, CREX).

Who Chinmay Sutar is

The late-October and 3 November reporting (Times Now's Aayush Kataria, updated around 28-29 October 2026; NEInsider on 29 October; DNA on 29 October; Outlook on 3 November; CREX) is where the background sits.

He is Mumbai-born and 29. He moved from the Mumbai Cricket Association to Mizoram for the Plate competition in 2026-27. He has played two List A games for Mumbai, one in 2019 and one in the 2026 Vijay Hazare Trophy. He has never played first-class cricket for Mumbai. The Ranji scores below are the start of his first-class career, for Mizoram.

The 400 not out against Nagaland

The third first-class innings was 400 not out against Nagaland at Sovima. NEInsider has it off 517 balls, with 46 fours and seven sixes.

Coverage of that innings describes it as only the second quadruple century by an Indian in the Ranji Trophy, after Bhausaheb Nimbalkar's 443 not out for Maharashtra against Kathiawar in 1948-49. It is also described as the second-highest individual Ranji score after Nimbalkar, a total that passed Prithvi Shaw's 379, and the first time a player has made a quadruple century as a maiden first-class hundred. The innings before it was 99, run out one short, so the 400 not out was the first hundred.

NEInsider records an unbroken last-wicket stand of 190 with Lalrempuia Chhakchhuak, who made 14 off 76. Mizoram declared on 581 for 9.

CREX adds two comparisons. Sutar's 400 not out was 68.85 percent of that 581, which CREX calls the highest share among the 12 first-class quadruple centuries. CREX also calls Mizoram's total the lowest team score to feature a quadruple hundred. The previous mark on that list was Worcestershire, 628 for 7 declared, with Hick's 405 not out.

The four-innings mark of 659

The first four innings, in order:

• 35 against Manipur.
• 99 against Manipur, run out one short.
• 400 not out against Nagaland.
• 125 against Meghalaya.

35 + 99 + 400 + 125 = 659. Times Now reported that 659 broke the four-innings mark associated with Ponsford: about 616 runs in his first four innings for Victoria, across 1921-23.

Times Now's table lists Ponsford's first four as 9 and 19 against MCC, 162 against Tasmania, and 429 against Tasmania. The four-innings mark Times Now associates with that sequence is about 616.

The Meghalaya hundred needs a note. Some outlets wrote 135 in the prose and 125 in their own score tables. NEInsider, Outlook and CREX list 125. NEInsider has it as 125 off 215 balls, with 12 fours, at the Gokulbhai Somabhai Patel Stadium in Nadiad. The 659 above is **35 + 99

• 400 + 125**. This explainer uses 125.

Sakibul Gani's earlier marks were untouched. Times Now says the Bihar batter still holds the most runs after one, two and three first-class innings: 341, 439 and 540. Sutar's own first three scores add to 35, then 134, then 534. Each of those is short of Gani's figure. The record Sutar took with 659 is the four-innings one.

The five-innings breakthrough on 3 November

Round Four, Day 2, against Arunachal Pradesh, is the innings in which the five-innings record fell. Two outlets, two clocks.

	CREX (Soumyajit Dutta)	Hindustan Times (Aditya Maheshwari and Vishesh Roy)
When	Updated about 5:45 pm IST on 3 November. Describes the moment the record fell	Live file. About 4:45 pm IST, then stumps
Sutar	Unbeaten on 89 when the five-innings record fell. Cumulative 748	Third consecutive century. 131 not out off 226 at about 4:45 pm. No separate not-out score printed here for stumps
The record	Past Ponsford's 724	A 123-year world record. Ponsford's 724, set 1921-1923
The match	The update used here gives the 748 and the 89 not out, not a stumps score	About 4:45 pm: Mizoram 358 for 3, leading by 73. Stumps: Arunachal Pradesh 285, Mizoram 366 for 3

CREX's 748 is the four-innings 659 plus the unbeaten 89 it cites. That is the moment it says he went past 724. CREX's update is timed about 5:45 pm IST, after HT's 4:45 pm file, and it describes that earlier moment. HT's 4:45 pm read is further into the innings: a third consecutive century, 131 not out. HT's stumps line moves the team score from 358 for 3 to 366 for 3 and does not, in the reporting used here, give Sutar a new figure.

This explainer does not choose a final not-out total from those lines, and it does not add the 131 to 659 and publish that sum as his five-innings aggregate. No association or board scorecard is reproduced here. Readers should treat both live totals as provisional until a match scorecard is final.

HT's "third consecutive century" fits the sequence already on the card: the 400 not out, the 125, and the Arunachal hundred. The 99 against Manipur was one short of a hundred, so it sits before that run of three.

What records are still standing

Ponsford's five-innings mark of 724 is the one HT and CREX say has fallen. His four-innings mark, about 616, is the one 659 had already passed.

What the same reports leave in place:

• Nimbalkar's 443 not out remains the highest individual Ranji score. Sutar's 400 not out is described as the next one down, ahead of Shaw's 379.
• Sakibul Gani still leads after one, two and three innings, at 341, 439 and 540 (Times Now).
• Bashir Shah holds the six-innings mark at 831, CREX reported. CREX says Sutar would need more runs in a sixth innings to challenge it. HT's stumps line still has Mizoram on 366 for 3 in this match, which is the innings in which the five-innings record fell.

What to watch next

1. A final scorecard for Mizoram against Arunachal Pradesh. That is the document that can replace the 89 not out, the 131 not out, and the stumps score of 366 for 3 with one set of figures.
2. How far the fifth innings goes. CREX's record-breaking total is 748. Any runs after the 89 not out change the aggregate. This piece waits for the scorecard before printing one.
3. A sixth innings, against Bashir Shah's 831. CREX set that as the next numerical bar, and only after Sutar has a sixth first-class innings.
4. Selection talk. The reports used here do not quote the BCCI, the Mumbai Cricket Association or a selector. What they do establish is a Plate batter with a maiden first-class hundred of 400 not out, and no first-class match yet for Mumbai.
5. Mizoram's Plate campaign, starting with the result of this Arunachal Pradesh match once the live file is a result.

Sutar's first four innings are a settled 659 in the reporting above, built on 125 against Meghalaya rather than 135. The fifth is the one still moving. Ponsford's 724 is the mark HT and CREX say he has passed. The number he finishes with is the scorecard's.

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This explainer draws on Times Now (Aayush Kataria, updated around 28-29 October 2026), NEInsider (29 October 2026), DNA (29 October 2026), Outlook (3 November 2026) and CREX for the first four innings, the 400 not out, the 659 and the Ponsford and Sakibul Gani comparisons. The 3 November five-innings lines are Hindustan Times live coverage by Aditya Maheshwari and Vishesh Roy (about 4:45 pm IST: 131 not out off 226, Mizoram 358 for 3, lead of 73; stumps: Arunachal Pradesh 285, Mizoram 366 for 3; Ponsford's 724, set 1921-1923, described there as a 123-year world record) and CREX by Soumyajit Dutta (updated about 5:45 pm IST: 748 runs, the mark falling at 89 not out, Bashir Shah's six-innings mark of 831). No official scorecard is reproduced here. Live totals are provisional until a match scorecard is final. Some outlets wrote 135 against Meghalaya in prose; their tables, and NEInsider, Outlook and CREX, list 125, which is the figure used above.