Tanmay Agarwal enters record books with fastest triple century in first-class cricket history

It was a record-breaking day at the NFC Cricket Ground in Hyderabad during the Ranji Trophy match between Hyderabad and Arunachal Pradesh. Hyderabad opener Tanmay Agarwal shattered all the records and finished unbeaten at 323 runs at Stumps on Day 1. Hyderabad finished the day at 529/1 in just 48 overs in reply to Arunachal Pradesh’s 172 runs.

During his innings of 323 runs from 160 balls, he played with a strike rate of 201.88, which included 33 fours and 21 sixes. This was the fourth-best strike rate by a batsman in a Ranji Trophy match and also the best by an Indian batsman in first-class cricket.

Hyderabad batsman Tanmay Agarwal leads record-breaking day against Arunachal Pradesh

Tanmay Agarwal became the fastest batsman to reach the 300-run mark in the history of first-class cricket. Tanmay played a total of 147 balls to reach 300 runs. Apart from Tanmay, his partner Rahul Singh Gahlaut smashed 185 runs from 105 balls and hit a total of 26 fours and three sixes. Tanmay Agarwal added 449 runs for the first wicket, which is the fifth-highest partnership by an Indian pair in the history of first-class cricket.

Tanmay Agarwal will now be targeting the score of 443 runs, which is the highest score by an Indian batsman in first-class cricket. Bhausaheb Nimbalkar remained unbeaten on 443 against Kathiawar in 1948 and if Tanmay can achieve the record, it will be huge for the right-handed batsman. The highest score by a batsman in first-class cricket is 501*, which was scored by West Indies legend Brian Lara against Warwickshire in 1994, which can also be a record, Tanmay Agarwal would like to break.

Apart from this feat, Tanmay now needs 3 more sixes to surpass New Zealand batsman Colin Munro, to become the batsman to hit the most sixes in a first-class innings. Munro smashed 23 sixes while playing for Auckland against Central Districts in 2014.

A total of 701 runs were made on Day 1 of the match, which is only the second time the mark has been breached in first-class cricket. The last time this mark was breached was about 72 years back, in 1950 when two teams were able to make over 700 runs on a single day of a first-class match.

Arunachal Pradesh were wrapped up for 172 runs in their first innings, wherein Techi Doria, was the top run scorer of the innings and was unbeaten on 97 runs. Apart from him no other batsman was able to stay at the crease and were dismissed cheaply without breaching the 10-run mark.

Divyanshu Yadav and Techi Sonam were the other top two run scorers of Arunachal Pradesh innings and scored 29 and 16 runs respectively. Chama Milind and Kartikeya Kak picked up 3 wickets apiece whereas Tanay Thyagarajan was able to pick 2 wickets. Elligaram Sanketh and Palakodeti Sairam picked up 1 wicket each.

Hyderabad were degraded to the plates group from the elite group after they were not able to win their must-win match against Delhi in the last edition of the Ranji Trophy. Hyderabad are currently placed in the top spot of the Plate Group and have won three out of three games.