When Paras Dogra hit Tanush Kotian towards mid-on and sprinted for a single in the 57th over of Jammu & Kashmir’s innings against Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy on Thursday, he went to second on the list of batters with most tons in the First-Class tournament behind Wasim Jaffer.

The man that Dogra surpassed with his 32nd Ranji hundred was sitting in his own dressing room: Ajay Sharma, the current head coach of J&K. During the knock on Thursday, Dogra also crossed the 10,000-run mark in First-Class cricket.

The 61-year-old Sharma, who was a prolific run-getter for Delhi in his pomp, did not know about Dogra’s tally of tons surpassing his own. But when he was informed about it at the end of the day’s play, he praised Dogra’s work ethics. “Getting 10,000 runs and 32 centuries is a great achievement. His commitment towards the game is tremendous. I am very happy that I am the coach when he has passed my century count,” Sharma said.

It was at the beginning of last season that Dogra, 40, was brought into the J&K set-up from Puducherry.

“We brought him in last season because we needed a leader. The youngsters should learn from him. He has had a very good career,” the coach added.