Hanuma Vihari breaks Shikhar Dhawan's record with hat-trick of centuries in Irani Cup

Indian cricketer Hanuma Vihari becomes the first player to hit three successive centuries in Irani Cup on Friday. Hanuma achieved this feat in a match between Ranji Trophy champions Vidarbha and Rest of India at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur.

Vihari struck on down the ground off Akshay Wakhare’s bowling just before lunch to reach the three figure mark. Vihari is made a mammoth 180 runs and Rest of India is leading by 279 runs. Vihari made 114 runs in the first innings as Rest of India made 330 runs.

Meanwhile, Vihari also became the first batsman since Shikhar Dhawan in 2011 to score centuries in each innings of an Irani Cup match. Dhawan had achieved the feat against the then Ranji Trophy champions, Rajasthan. Vihari also broke Dhawan’s record to his most successive centuries in Irani Cup.

Vidarbha were bowled out for 425 runs in the first innings with Sanjay Raghunath scoring 65 runs, Ganesh Satish 48, Akshay Wadkar 73 and their number eight batsman Akshay Karnewar a massive 102 runs. Rest of the batsmen also contributed few runs with their bat.

Rest of India declared their second innings at 374-3, Aditya Sarwate and Akshay Wakhare took two and one wicket respectively for Vidarbha.

Vihari, who made his India debut during a five-Test series in England last year. After scoring 167 runs against England in difficult batting conditions in his maiden Test series, Vihari skipped the Ranji Trophy but played for India A against the England Lions. In three List-A matches played in Thiruvananthapuram last month, Vihari scored 124 runs, including 92 in a match wherein he also picked up a wicket.