In the past 81 editions of Ranji Trophy history, scoring 1000 plus runs is seen as a significant achievement. VVS Laxman holds the record of scoring most runs of 1415 for Hyderabad during 1999/00 season. Mumbai’s Shreyas Iyer scored 1321 runs in the 2015/16 season. In 2016 Gujarat’s Priyank Panchal made 1310 runs which helped them to win their maiden Ranji Trophy title.
Mayank Agarwal performance in this year’s Ranji Trophy has been phenomenal for Karnataka. In the month of November 2017 itself, the right-handed opener scored 1033 runs in 4 matches that have helped Karnataka to win matches and top their group.
In Karnataka”s 4th round match against Maharashtra, Mayank Agarwal played a marathon innings of 304 not –out with 28 fours and 4 sixes helping Karnataka to post a massive total. Maharashtra put into bat first had scored a modest total of 245. It was one of the best innings by Mayank who made the batting look easy. Karnataka won that match by an innings and 136 runs to earn 7 points.
In the next match against Delhi at Alur, Mayank Agarwal continued his brilliant form with quick fire 176 in 250 balls with 24 fours and 3 sixes. Stuart Binny scored a century while Shreyas Gopal made 92. All three of them lead Karnataka to post a massive 649 in the first innings. In their first innings, Delhi was dismissed for 301. Agarwal was dismissed cheaply for 23 for Karnataka in second innings. The match ended in a draw.
During the sixth round match against Uttar Pradesh at Kanpur, Mayank Agarwal made a quick fire 90 in 73 balls for Kartnakta, D Nischal made 195; Manish Pandey scored 238 which helped Karnataka again to post a massive total of 655. The Kartnakta bowlers dismissed Uttar Pradesh for 331. In the second innings, Mayank Agarwal scored 133 not out and put on 262 runs for the first wicket with Ravi Samarth. Samarth contributed 126 runs.
Against Railways, in their last league match, Mayank Agarwal played another brilliant inning of 173 in 241 balls with 17 fours and 1 six. Manish Pandey scored 108 runs. Karnataka was all out for 434. Karnataka bowlers dismissed their opposition for 333. In the second innings, Agarwal played again with positive intent scoring 134 in 178 balls with 13 fours and 3 sixes. Kartnakta won the final league match by 209 dismissing Railways for 167 in their second innings.
In the month of November 2017, Mayank played 4 matches and batted in seven innings and remained not out once. He scored at an average of 258.5 per match or 177.3 runs per innings he played during the month of November.
Mayank Agarwal is the top run-getter so far with 1064 runs in 6 matches (10 innings) with an average of 133. His top score (304 not out) came against Maharashtra at Pune. His knocks have helped Karnataka to reach the quarter-finals stage.
It is a great achievement for a player to score more than 1000 runs in less than a month. If the Kartnakta opener continues his brilliant form in the knockout stages, then he could break the record of VVS Laxman of scoring most runs in a season.
He also took part in the ICC under 19 World (2010) and was the leading runs scorer for India. He has played 34 first-class matches with 2514 runs with 5 centuries and 15 half-centuries. If Mayank Agarwal continues his present profile form, he could be one of the strong contenders for middle order batting in all formats in near future.
Mayank Agarwal in the month of November 2017 ( Ranji Trophy)
Matches 4, Runs scored 1033, HS-304*, Average- 258.5,