Vidarbha’s in-form batter Yash Rathod overtakes Hazare, Kambli for special feat in Ranji Trophy

COIMBATORE(Tamil Nadu) : Vidarbha batter Yash Rathod’s purple patch in the domestic circuit continued with a blistering century against Tamil Nadu in Round 3 of the Ranji Trophy.

As Rathod’s golden run continued, he overtook Vijay Hazare and Vinod Kambli in the list for the highest first-class average for any Indian batter with at least 2,000 runs.

Vidarbha and Tamil Nadu are squaring off at the Sri Ramakrishna College of Arts and Science Ground in Coimbatore. Tamil Nadu crawled its way to 291 despite Pradosh Ranjan Paul (113) and Baba Indrajith’s (96) 179-run stand for the fourth wicket. Vidarbha speedster Nachiket Bhute stood out with figures of 5/65 and was the prime architect behind Tamil Nadu’s downfall.

Rathod walked out in the middle after Aman Mokhade (80), Dhruv Shorey (82) and R Samarth (56) toyed with Tamil Nadu’s bowling attack and field setup. The southpaw blazed his way to a half-century in 61 balls and slammed his ninth first-class century, midway through the second session.

With 2,280 runs under his belt with an average of 60, Rathod has the sixth-highest first-class average for any Indian batter with at least 2,000 runs, going past Vijay Hazare (58.38) and Vinod Kambli (59.67), according to Wisden.

He also became the 12th player to wallop 2,000 runs at an average of 60 or more. Among the 12 players, Rathod is the only player to achieve the feat without registering a double ton.

His exploits came to an end on 133 and his tally in the current season has now soared to 775 runs in seven matches, at an average of 110.7. Last season, he was the top run-getter in the Ranji Trophy with a tally 960 runs in 10 games. Rathod kickstarted his season with 324 runs in three games while representing Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy.

Rathod notched figures of 91 & 5 during Vidarbha’s 93-run triumph against Rest of India in the Irani Cup one-off match. He topped it up with scores of 71 and 101* against Nagaland and Jharkhand in the first two Ranji Trophy matches of the season. (ANI)