One of the finest moments of young Shiv Sunder Das' career came in a 1997-98 Ranji Trophy Super League tie against Punjab at Berhampur. Orissa were drawn in the strong Group A along with Karnataka and Mumbai and had an unhappy beginning losing their first two games by an innings to the two afore-mentioned giants. The tide finally turned when they trounced Railways by 116 runs in their third game, skipper SS Das leading the way with a second innings century.

In Orissa's final encounter, Das beat rival skipper Pankaj Dharmani over the toss and elected to bat. Coming in at No.4, he found little support among his colleagues en route to a personal tally of 110. After warding off the Punjab new ball attack comprising Sandeep Sharma and Bharat Bhushan, Das tackled the three spinners, Aashish Kapoor, Harbhajan Singh and Bharti Vij with assurance. A Vij return catch finally ended his innings and Orissa were bowled out for 261 shortly after.

In reply Punjab were shot out for 145, seam bowler Robin Morris and off spinner Sanjay Satpathy doing most of the damage. Orissa proceeded to rattle up 305/6 in their second innings before declaring early on the fourth day. Das was again the lynchpin of the Orissa batting, slamming 131, and associating with Rasmi Ranjan Parida in a 211 run fourth wicket stand.

Set 422 runs to win in the fourth innings, Punjab stuggled to avert defeat, the last wicket pair of Manav Mehra and Harbhajan Singh holding out to force a draw at 88/9. The match signalled the end of the road for both Orissa and Das in the 1997-98 Ranji season, the latter's seven games in the competition having produced 646 runs at 53.83.