During the recent Ranji Trophy match between Bengal and Madhya Pradesh at Eden Gardens (Kolkata), Aryaman Birla, the son of the chairman of the Aditya Birla Group – Kumar Mangalam Birla, hit his maiden first-class century and ensured a draw for his team.

Playing for Madhya Pradesh, the 21-year-old opener was playing only his third first-class match and fifth first-class innings when he played that century knock. After his team was forced to follow-on by scoring 335 runs in the first innings against Bengal’s 510/9 (decl.) in their first innings, Madhya Pradesh had a shaky start as they went down 69/3.

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Since then, the opener Aryaman Birla and the middle-order batsman Shubham Sharma put an unbroken 171-run partnership for the fourth wicket that saved the game for his team as Bengal earned three points while Madhya Pradesh secured one point.

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While the 24-year-old Shubham scored his third first-class century by playing an unbeaten 100-run knock off 134 balls (11 fours and only six), Aryaman remained not out on 103 off 189 balls (12 fours and only six).

He made his first-class debut in the last year’s Ranji Trophy against Odisha and it was the only professional game he played in that season where he scored just 16 and 6 runs. Before this Ranji season, Aryaman played four List A games with the highest score only 19.

In the first game of this Ranji season against Tamil Nadu, Aryaman hit his maiden first-class fifty as he scored 51 runs. After that, the Bengal game arrived where he scored 12 runs during his team’s first innings before playing a match-saving knock of unbeaten 103 runs.

After the game, Aryaman said, “There’s a legacy that I would love to build on in my own way. I know there is pressure but when you’re playing you just keep your focus at the ball. It’s the 22 yards that count. It’s a great responsibility for me I would love to take it forward.

“I think I consider myself very lucky and I can say that my family members are my role models. Everyone is ambitious in their own way. I want to learn from everyone. Both my parents are very supportive which is very important.

“Everyone is born in a particular family. That’s not a barrier for anything. There’s no particular norm to become something. I’ve been playing professionally for four-five years. I’ve made my journey to the Ranji Trophy side through some good performances in the U-23 level.”