Stats: Mayank Agarwal breaks Indian record for most runs in a List-A series
Sachin Tendulkar's 15-year-old record, creating during the 2003 World Cup has been broken. The man who broke it? Karnataka batsman Mayank Agarwal, who is quickly making a name for himself as a record-breaker extraordinaire in a season that has already seen him go past 2,000 runs across all formats.
His latest feat came during the Vijay Hazare Trophy final against Saurashtra, in which he scored 90 and finished the tournament with a staggering tally of 723 runs from just eight matches, including three centuries and four fifties. After the semi-final, he broke Dinesh Karthik's record of most runs in a Vijay Hazare Trophy season and in the final, he broke Sachin Tendulkar's record of most runs in a List-A series by an Indian batsman.
India's journey to the 2003 World Cup final, where they lost to Australia, was possible largely on the back of Sachin's incredible performances that saw him score 673 runs in 11 matches at an average of 61 and strike rate of almost 90 with one century and six fifties.
The 27-year-old now holds the Indian record for most runs in a List-A series, most runs in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, the most sixes hit in a Vijay Hazare Trophy season (18 beating the previous record of 14 held by S Goswami) and also became the first Indian to score more than 2,000 runs in a season.
His incredible form in the Vijay Hazare Trophy began with a century against Baroda in Bengaluru, which he followed up with an 84 against Assam. His lowest score of the tournament came against Punjab at Alur, where he could only manage 28 but he bounced back with a century against Odisha and an 89 against Railways in the final two group games at Alur.
In the quarter-final against Hyderabad, he scored a commanding 140, his highest score of the tournament, to help Karnataka book their spot in the semi-final. Against Maharashtra, he continued his impressive form, scoring 81 of the 161 they needed to book a place in the final. Against Saurashtra in the final, he scored 90 but his side couldn't quite capitalise as they were bundled out for 253.
Throughout the tournament, he had just one score below 81. Overall, his scores in the tournament read: 109, 84, 28, 102, 89, 140, 81 and 90.
Across all formats, Agarwal has scored 2,141 runs this season. With the Deodhar Trophy still left to play for, he will be looking to extend the lead over second-placed Shreyas Iyer, who scored 1,947 runs in the 2015/16 season. Although his incredible form was enough to secure an IPL contract with Kings XI Punjab, it wasn't enough to help him earn an Indian call-up for the Nidahas Trophy.