Hyderabad’s Tanmay Agarwal has blazed his way into the record books in a spectacular manner by slamming the fastest triple hundred in the history of first class cricket. He celebrated the Republic Day in style by hammering a maiden triple ton off 147 balls against the bowlers of Arunachal Pradesh in the Ranji trophy competition.
After several years of dejection and despair, Tanmay has restored a sense of pride again to Hyderabad. Skeptics will say that his achievement came against a weak team but a record is a record. Cricket fans all over the world will know that a player from Hyderabad has created a world record. It’s a proud day for the city.
Also destroyed Indian records
In the process Tanmay also destroyed some Indian records. When he reached 200, it was the fastest by any Indian batter and came off 119 balls. The previous record was held by Ravi Shastri who had scored a double century off 123 balls.
It was Tanmay’s 12th Ranji trophy century and his career-best score in the national championship. Earlier he represented Hyderabad at various age-group tournaments such as the Under-14, Under-16, Under-19, Under-22 and Under-25 categories. He scored a century on his first class debut. He has also played in the IPL. In 2017 and 2018 he played for Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Fastest in history
Yesterday his 300 runs in 147 balls eclipsed the previous record of Marco Marais who scored the triple century in 191 balls for Border Province against Eastern Province in South African domestic cricket.
In terms of time, Tanmay’s triple hundred was the second fastest in history. He took 183 minutes to reach 300. The fastest ever recorded was in 1948 when the England star Dennis Compton had scored 300 in 181 minutes while batting for the MCC against North Eastern Transvaal in South Africa.
Others who scored quick 3 centuries
From the bygone years, other efforts which can be compared to Tanmay’s feat are those of Australian Charlie Macartney who scored 300 off 221 balls against Nottinghamshire in 1921, Englishman Frank Woolley who did it in 230 balls for MCC against Tasmania in 1912, New Zealand’s Ken Rutherford who scored it off 234 balls against D.B. Close XI in 1986 and Viv Richards who did it in 244 balls for Somerset against Warwickshire in 1985.
These are legendary names indeed. So Tanmay, at the age of 28, has stepped into a very august company of great players. Charlie McCartney, who was nicknamed Governor General because of his commanding presence at the wicket, was one of Don Bradman’s boyhood idols. Frank Woolley is still regarded as one of the greatest all rounders ever seen in cricket.
Woolley played more than 900 first class matches, scored almost 60,000 runs with 145 centuries and took about 1000 catches. Mind boggling figures indeed. Tanmay Agarwal has now written his name among such elite players. So the 26th of January, 2024, will be remembered as one of the glorious days of Hyderabad’s cricket history.
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