Sarfaraz Khan has broken into the top five of the all-time highest first-class batting averages with his 227 against Hyderabad in the 2025/26 Ranji Trophy.
Sarfaraz hits fifth first-class double hundred
The Mumbai batter continued his all-format dominance with a double hundred in the Ranji Trophy to complete the set of a century in all three of India’s domestic competitions in the ongoing season. This was also his fifth double hundred and 17th ton in first-class cricket.
Sarfaraz was in fine form in both the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and the Vijay Hazare earlier this term, scoring 329 runs at a strike-rate of 203 in the former, and was Mumbai’s top-scorer with 303 runs at an average of 75.75 and a strike rate of 190.56 in the latter. He has seamlessly carried that form into the second half of the Ranji Trophy season as well.
Batting at five against Hyderabad, he walked in with Mumbai at 82-3 and added 249 runs for the fourth wicket with Siddhesh Lad, who scored a ton himself. In the process, Sarfaraz brought up a run-a-ball hundred, before completing his double century during a 154-run stand with Suved Parkar. He was the sixth wicket to fall, with Mumbai finishing their innings at 560.
Match 109, Hyderabad vs Mumbai
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Highest first-class averages, full list: Sarfaraz climbs to fifth
Coming into this game at Hyderabad, Sarfaraz was seventh on the list of batters with the highest first-class average (minimum 50 innings played), with 63.15. But with the 219-ball 227, his average has now shot up to 65.26, pushing him upto fifth on the list as he has overtaken Bill Woodfull and Bill Ponsford, two Australian batters of the early 20th century.
Player | Average | Matches | Innings | Not-outs | Runs | HS | 100s | 50s | Span |
Don Bradman (AUS) | 95.14 | 234 | 338 | 43 | 28067 | 452* | 117 | 69 | 1927-1949 |
Vijay Merchant (IND) | 71.64 | 150 | 234 | 46 | 13470 | 359* | 45 | 52 | 1929-1951 |
George Headley (WI) | 69.86 | 103 | 164 | 22 | 9921 | 344* | 33 | 44 | 1927-1954 |
Ajay Sharma (IND) | 67.46 | 129 | 166 | 16 | 10120 | 259* | 38 | 36 | 1984-2001 |
| Sarfaraz Khan (IND) | 65.26 | 61 | 91 | 13 | 5090 | 301* | 17 | 16 | 2014-2026 |
Bill Ponsford (AUS) | 65.18 | 162 | 235 | 23 | 13819 | 437 | 47 | 43 | 1920-1934 |
Bill Woodfull (AUS) | 64.99 | 174 | 245 | 39 | 13388 | 284 | 49 | 58 | 1921-1934 |
Shantanu Sugwekar (IND) | 63.1 | 85 | 122 | 18 | 6563 | 299* | 19 | 26 | 1987-2002 |
Kamindu Mendis (SL) | 62.24 | 59 | 91 | 8 | 5166 | 200* | 19 | 24 | 2018-2025 |
KC Ibrahim (IND) | 61.24 | 60 | 89 | 12 | 4716 | 250 | 14 | 22 | 1938-1950 |
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