Mayank Agarwal becomes 3rd player to hit triple ton in 2017 Ranji season

Pune: Making a strong claim for a place in India's playing XI, Mayank Agarwal brought up a brilliant triple hundred off 490 balls to bring Karnataka to a winning position against Maharashtra at the MCA ground here on Friday.

Interestingly, this is the third triple century in the ongoing Ranji Trophy season and the 43^rd in the history of the domestic tournament. Earlier, Hanuma Vihari (302*) of Andhra Pradesh and Prashant Chopra (338) of Himachal Pradesh have hit triple centuries this season.

Mayank Agarwal also became the third Karnataka player to slam a triple-ton in Ranji after Lokesh Rahul and Karun Nair.

"I was determined to play a good innings here," the 26-year-old batsman had said at the end of Day 2. "This has to be one of the best innings of my career. I had decided to play cautiously."

Also Read: Cheteshwar Pujara slams record 12th first-class double ton

With the help of his phenomenal triple century, Karnataka posted a humongous total of 628/5 in reply to Maharashtra's meagre 245, taking an imposing first inning lead of 383 runs. In reply, the home team is once again looking to have collapsed under immense pressure as was restored to 135/4 at the end of Day 3.

Opening the inning with Ravikumar Samarth (129 off 219, 17 fours), Mayank Agarwal added 259 runs for the first wicket. Dega Nischal, however, failed to take advantage of the set stage and lost his wicket for mere 16 runs off 47 balls with one boundary, but Karun Nair utilized the opportunity and added 279 runs for the third wicket with Agarwal.

Where Agarwal remained unbeaten at 304 runs off 494 balls with 28 fours and 4 sixes, Nair also scored 116 runs off 256 balls hitting 13 boundaries.

For the hosting Maharashtra team, Chirag Khurana was the pick of the bowlers as he finished with 3/147 from his 39 overs.