Vidarbha batter Yash Rathod's purple patch in the domestic circuit continued with a blistering century against Tamil Nadu on Day 3 of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match in Coimbatore on Monday.
The 25-year-old left-hander overtook Vijay Hazare and Vinod Kambli in the list for the highest first-class average for any Indian batter with at least 2000 runs.
He struck a magnificent 133 off 189 balls with 15 boundaries, helping Vidarbha pile up 501 in their first innings to take a commanding 210-run lead.
Rathod walked out in the middle after Aman Mokhade (80), Dhruv Shorey (82) and R Samarth (56) hitting half-centuries as they toyed with Tamil Nadu's bowling attack.
Rathod looked in superb touch right from the start, blazed his way to a half-century in 61 balls and slammed his ninth first-class
With 2280 runs under his belt with an average of 60, Rathod has the sixth-highest first-class average for any Indian batter with at least 2000 runs, going past Hazare (58.38) and Kambli (59.67), according to Wisden.
He also became the 12th player to wallop 2000 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 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 helping Vidarbha win their third Ranji Trophy title.
Rathod kickstarted the season with 324 runs in three games while representing Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy.
He made 91 and 5 during Vidarbha's 93-run triumph against Rest of India in the Irani Cup match. He followed it up with scores of 71 and 101 not out against Nagaland and Jharkhand in the first two Ranji Trophy matches of the season.
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