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Saurashtra’s Samarth Vyas became only the fifth batter to hit a double-century in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, smashing 200 off 131 against Manipur in an Elite Group A match in Delhi on Sunday.
With his double-ton, Samarth has now joined Karn Veer Kaushal, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson and Prithvi Shaw in the double-centurions list. Overall, this was Vyas’s third List-A century.
The 26-year-old Vyas put on a 282-run opening stand with Harvik Desai, who made 100 off 107 balls, as Saurashtra posted 397 for 4. In reply, Manipur were bowled out for 115 as Saurashtra registered their second straight win in the tournament.
Saurashtra earlier opened their campaign in this tournament on Saturday with a seven-wicket win over Chandigarh, with Vyas contributing 61 off 64 balls in a successful chase of 216.
Vyas has been lately in terrific form. He topped the run charts by scoring 314 runs in 7 innings at a strike rate of 177.40 for Saurashtra at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20s earlier in the month, where his side reached the semifinals. His best score was 97 not out against Nagaland while he made another 97 against Baroda. At the end of the T20 tournament, he was the fifth-highest run-getter finishing just 49 runs behind Yash Dhull, who topped the charts.
Although Vyas made his List A debut in 2015, he has recently become a regular member of the team. He initially started as a middle-order batter but has now moved up the order, with the team management pushing him up to bat in the top three.
In terms of overall record, Ajinkya Rahane’s 187 for Mumbai against Maharashtra in 2007-08 was the highest individual List A score in the tournament for nearly a decade before Uttarakhand’s Kaushal crossed the 200-run mark in the 2018-19 season against Sikkim.
Since then, the tournament has seen four other double-centuries, including the one recently made by Vyas on Sunday. Shaw’s 227 not out for Mumbai against Puducherry in the previous season remains the highest score, though.
In another game in Ranchi, Services defeated Mumbai by eight wickets in the biggest upset of the tournament so far as they chased down a total of 265 with 27 balls remaining.
Both the Services openers, Shubham Rohilla and Ravi Chauhan scored centuries. Their opening stand of 231 completely knocked Mumbai out of the game in the second innings as Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 104 went in vain.
Earlier, Mumbai started their campaign with an eight-wicket win after bundling out Bengal for 121. They now have one win and one loss in the competition.
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