Ranji Trophy 2017-18: Top 5 batsmen

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Hanuma Vihari hit a triple century - 302* - for Andhra this season

The leading run-getters from the latest season features four new names, who are slowly establishing themselves in the Ranji circuit.

There were huge knocks including a few triple centuries by batsmen, as two captains make up the list of the top five.

#5 Hanuma Vihari, Andhra – 752 runs at 94.00 in 6 matches

The newly crowned Andhra captain Hanuma Vihari showed the way with big runs when no other decent contributions from the bat helped his side. It was during the 2016-17 season that he had switched from Hyderabad to Andhra, and seeing his potential, and seeing his talent, Andhra rewarded him with the captaincy.

Pre-season scores of 59* in a one-day game for India Under-23 against Afghanistan's emerging side and 105 for India Blue in the Duleep Trophy signalled his intent early.

In just the second Ranji match, Vihari, 24, got 150 against Baroda, who had Irfan Pathan and an in-form Swapnil Singh in their bowling line-up. Come the next game, he bashed 302* against Odisha, his maiden first-class triple century. Vihari ended with two hundreds and three half-centuries as Andhra exited in the group stages.

#4 Anmolpreet Singh, Punjab – 753 runs at 125.50 in 5 matches

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Anmolpreet Singh slammed knocks of 267 and 252* for Punjab in the group stages

Top order bat Anmolpreet Singh had shown his potential at the Under-19 World Cup in 2016, where decent runs led him to a place in Punjab's domestic one-day side in the 2016-17 Vijay Hazare Trophy. He immediately shone in that tournament, striking a quickfire 58.

These performances were enough to earn him a call-up to his state's first-class side, for which he played the same season after representing Punjab Under-16 and Under-19 in the past.

This season, Anmolpreet played five games and got a century in three of them. There were big innings of 267 against Chattisgarh in an innings win, which came at a strike rate of over a hundred, 252* against Services and 113 in yet another innings victory over Goa.

#3 R Sanjay, Vidarbha – 775 runs at 64.58 in 9 matches

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R Sanjay [left] twice put on stands of over 250 with Faiz Fazal for the first wicket

R Sanjay, along with Rajneesh Gurbani and Akshay Wakhare, was among the unfamiliar faces that delivered for Vidarbha in a historic season. In captain Faiz Fazal, he found one of the most dependable of allies, and together they went on to stitch partnerships of over 250 twice in the tournament.

The 22-year old hit three centuries and two half-centuries in the course of a winning campaign, just his second for Vidarbha in the domestic top flight. It is no surprise that Sanjay follows his captain Fazal in the list of the highest run-getters this season, and if he can maintain his form and consistency in the years to come, it would be of no surprise either if the national selectors are forced to call him up to the Indian team.

#2 Faiz Fazal, Vidarbha – 912 runs at 70.15 in 9 matches

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Faiz Fazal, the captain of Vidarbha, led from the front by scoring big runs this season

Vidarbha's captain could not have done more to lead his under-rated side to the most surprising of results in Ranji history. By the time he lifted the trophy after they beat Delhi in the final, Fazal and company had ensured that they remained unbeaten throughout the nine games. As one of the opening batsmen, Fazal built huge partnerships with his partner R Sanjay and converted five of his six half-centuries into a hundred.

Against Himachal Pradesh, he achieved his highest first-class score of 206 and in the quarter-final against Kerala, he stepped up to slam 119 in the second innings, a knock which went a long way in a comprehensive win of 412 runs.

#1 Mayank Agarwal, Karnataka – 1,160 runs at 105.45 in 8 matches

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Despite low scores at the beginning of the season, Mayank Agarwal ended up as the leading run-scorer

Bashing big runs at will, Karnataka's opener Mayank Agarwal sits on top of the batting charts for the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy. He began the domestic season with low scores aplenty: 13 and 8 for India A against New Zealand A in unofficial ODIs; and 31 against Assam and then a pair against Hyderabad in the Ranji Trophy.

But that was it as far as those scores were concerned. In the very next game, he hit back with a best of 304* against Maharashtra; after that came 176 against Delhi; post that, scores of 90, 133*, 173, 134 and 78 followed against Uttar Pradesh, Railways and Mumbai. Agarwal built up a mountain of runs to separate himself from the next highest run-getter by more than two hundred runs.

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Edited by Tanya Rudra