Stats: Hanuma Vihari continues his rich vein of form in first-class cricket

Hanuma Vihari made it to the India ‘A’ teams with his consistent performances across all formats in the domestic competitions. The former India U19 player made his debut for Hyderabad and then moved to Andhra. He led both the sides and produced consistent performances in the Ranji Trophy. Vihari aggregated 1056 runs in just nine FC matches at an average of 96 during the 2017/18 season with four centuries that included an unbeaten 302.

He scored 5142 runs in the 63 first-class matches he has featured in thus far at an average of 59.79 with 15 centuries and 24 fifties. The India ‘A’ player completed 5000 FC runs milestone when he scored a brilliant 148 in the drawn unofficial Test against South Africa A in Alur. In the 2nd innings, Vihari bagged a duck while he needed to score at least 18 runs to end the game at an average of 60 in FC cricket.

Vihari’s average of 59.79 is the highest among the active players in first-class cricket who have batted more than 50 matches. The banned-Australian skipper Steve Smith is next to Vihari as he scored 10424 runs at an average of 57.28. Pakistan left-handed batsman Fawad Alam has an average of 55.37 in the 145 FC matches. Among the active Indian players, Rohit Sharma’s average of 54.71 is the 2nd highest after Vihari.

Highest career batting average among active players in first-class cricket: (Min: 50 matches)

Indian skipper Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara average 53.98 and 53.95 respectively in this format. The Andhra skipper’s FC average is also the all-time 8th highest batting average for any player in FC cricket. The list is head by Sir Donald Bradman, who missed the Test average of 100 by a whisker. However, in first-class, Bradman is far from averaging 100 as he finished his career at 95.14 which is well ahead than the next best Vijay Merchant (71.65).

Ajay Sharma and Shantanu Sugwekar are other Indians to have a higher average than Vihari in this format. Ajay averaged 67.47 in first-class cricket but featured in only one Test while Sugwekar, with an average of 63.11, never made it to the higher level. Bangladesh’s Mosaddek Hossain has an average of 69.67 in his first-class career but has batted in only 45 innings. He scored 2717 runs in 30 FC games with ten centuries and ten fifties.

Highest career batting average for a player in first-class cricket: (Min: 5000 runs)

(Stats as on August 13, 2018)

For all the latest cricket news and other updates follow CricTracker.