HYDERABAD: A decade after making his Ranji Trophy debut against Goa with a century (135 off 330 balls), 28-year-old Tanmay Agarwal rewrote several first-class records on way to an unbeaten triple century against Arunachal Pradesh in their Ranji Trophy Plate encounter on Friday.
Even as the nation was celebrating its 75th Republic Day, Tanmay made the occasion sweeter with his willow putting the hapless rival attack to the sword.The left-handed opener was at his belligerent best as he struck the fastest first-class triple century. He took just 147 balls to reach 300 and smashed 31 fours and 20 sixes on way to erase South African Marco Marais’ record, who hit 300 off 191 balls for Border against East Province in 2017.

Since his under-16 days, Tanmay has had a penchant for setting records. He has the distinction of scoring centuries on debut at all age-group cricket and was cut out for bigger things on the cricket field. Unfortunately, and despite being a consistent scorer for Hyderabad, Tanmay did not get sufficient opportunities to make a mark for himself at the higher level.
“It wasn’t a pre-planned innings as such. It was just another normal day for me and I went about playing the way I do in every inning. I had not set any targets for this season as I wanted to go out and bat well in every inning. That mindset has been very helpful this year. It has been working well for me,” Tanmay told ToI after his mammoth knock.
“It feels good to have your name on the top of the list and I thank God for giving me this opportunity. I am also thankful to my family and friends who have backed me all these years,” he said.
After getting his century, the southpaw changed gears as he eyed the double century. “Only the double century, one could say, was planned. The rest of the innings just happened. When I was batting on 140-odd, one of my teammates Tanay Thyagarajan said that I needed to score the remaining runs for a double century off 25 balls and why not go for it. That is when I decided to give it a shot and went after the bowlers,” he said.
In the process, he rewrote a 39-year-old record held by former India all-rounder Ravi Shastri. His 200 off 119 balls was the fastest first-class double century by an Indian. Shastri took 123 balls to score 200 against Baroda in the 1984-85 season.
It is also the second fastest first-class double century ever. The record is held by Pakistan’s Shafiqullah Shinwari who got his double century off just 89 balls for Kabul Region against Boost Region in 2017-18.
But the icing on the cake was the next 100 runs which he got off just 28 balls. Tanmay is now the third highest individual scorer in an innings for Hyderabad. Only MV Sridhar (366) and VVS Laxman (353) are ahead of him. Is the southpaw going to gun them down? “I will continue batting just like today and have no targets on my mind. We will also have to look at the team requirements and then play accordingly. Personally, I don’t look for records. I am more focused on helping the team win and get back to the Elite group,” he said.
Tanmay’s 21 sixes in the innings is also a new record which has eclipsed Ishan Kishan’s 14 sixes in an innings. “It is always nice to score runs for Hyderabad as it has given me the platform to showcase my talent. Playing for Hyderabad and scoring runs is always an honour – whether I am the captain or not. The goal this season was to get the team back to the Elite group as we have a very talented bunch of cricketers. We look forward to do greater things as a team in the Elite group next season,” the former Hyderabad skipper added.