Hyderabad's 21-year-old Aman Rao stamped his authority with an unbeaten double ton against a star-studded Bengal bowling lineup led by Mohammed Shami. Rao reached his maiden double century in third List A appearance. He became the second in the ongoing season and ninth overall to score a double century in Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT).
Rao was recently picked by Rajasthan Royals (RR) for his base price of Rs 30 lakh in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 mini-auction.
ALSO READ: Devdutt Padikkal misses 5th ton in 6 innings but sets Vijay Hazare Trophy record with 605 runs
Rao reached his double century with a six. He helped Tilak Varma-led Hyderabad post 352/5 on the board at Niranjan Shah Stadium, Rajkot. His knock was studded with 12 fours and 13 sixes.
Rao scored the most of India's Test pacer Akash Deep. He faced Deep's 28 deliveries and hit him for three sixes. Against Mukesh Kumar, he scored 38 runs from 21 balls including three sixes. In same number of deliveries, Shami conceded 35 runs, including two sixes. The young batter hit at least a six each off every Bengal bowler. He was cautious only against left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed, scoring 25 runs from 33 balls. However, he hit Shahbaz for a couple of sixes as well.
Before Rao, Odisha opener Swastik Samal scored 212 against Saurashtra, season's first double century.
Here is a list of batters with double centuries in Vijay Hazare Trophy history -
Tamil Nadu's Narayan Jagadeesan - 277 against Arunachal Pradesh (2022)
Mumbai's Prithvi Shaw - 227 not out against Puducherry (2021)
Maharashtra's Ruturaj Gaikwad - 220 not out against Uttar Pradesh (2022)
Kerala's Sanju Samson - 212 not out against Goa (2019)
Odisha’s Swastik Samal – 212 against Saurashtra (2025)
Mumbai's Yashasvi Jaiswal - 203 against Jharkhand (2019)
Uttarakhand's Karn Kaushal - 2022 against Sikkim (2018)
Saurashtra's Samart Vyas - 200 against Manipur (2022)
Hyderabad’s Aman Rao – 200 against Bengal (2026)
Rao’s career numbers so far
The youngster made his List A debut less than a week ago against Baroda where he scored 39 runs. In the previous clash against Chandigarh, he departed after scoring 13 runs. He made his T20 debut in previous edition of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT). From 11 games, he has scored 301 runs at an average of 33.44 and strike rate of 162.70. He has two T20 fifties to his name.