Siraj, Tanmay & Aman sparkle as super Hyderabad thrash listless Mumbai

Taking down a star-studded Mumbai side is never easy, and Hyderabad had their task cut out when they were pitted against them in the opening game of their Super League match. But, on Friday, the lambs feasted on the lions. Chama Milind and his band of fearless crusaders led by Mohd Siraj thrashed the champion side by nine wickets in the Super League Group B encounter of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in Pune.

Replying to a modest 132 for victory, Hyderabad openers Aman Rao and Tanmay Agarwal gave their much-fancied opponents a lesson in batting. India pacer Shardul Thakur was taken to the cleaners as he conceded 24 runs in his opening over. Aman Rao struck in a whirlwind fashion to blow the Mumbai attack away. He struck two sixes and three fours off Thakur’s first over – incidentally Thakur didn’t bowl another over. 6-4-0-4-6-4 was the sequence of shots Aman played against Thakur.

That set the tone for Hyderabad as the openers made merry. The duo made batting look so easy that one wonders what happened to the Mumbai batters, who made heavy weather.

After a slow start, left-handed Tanmay blazed away and made the Mumbai bowlers pay a heavy price. Tanmay, who has been Hyderabad’s mainstay over the years, went after the rival attack. He raced to his 50 off 30 balls but fell with just five needed for victory. Tanmay was caught by Tanush Kotian off a Tushar Deshpande delivery but by that time the damage was done. Tanmay scored a 40-ball 75 which contained seven fours and four sixes.

Aman fittingly got the winning runs as he went on to complete his maiden half-century. His unbeaten 52 came off 29 balls with five fours and three sixes.

Earlier, Milind won the toss and had no hesitation in asking Ajinkya Rahana and his men to bat first. Out came India players Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rahane and the duo went after the Hyderabad attack. At that point of time, one wondered if Hyderabad made the right decision.

But crisis man Tanay Thyagarajan rose to the occasion. The left-arm spinner had Rahane (13) stumped by Pragnay Reddy, who had a wonderful game behind the wickets. That opened up the gates, and the Hyderabad bowlers gleefully took charge of the proceedings. Wickets tumbled at regular interval as Mumbai lost the plot. They were soon reduced to 67 for five in the 10th over.

Siraj named Man of the Match, shares it with Tanmay

Wicketkeeper Hardik Tamore and Suryansh Shedge stemmed the rot with a 45-run partnership for the sixth wicket. But once Milind had Tamore (29) caught and bowled, there was no stopping the rampaging Hyderabad bowlers.

India pacer Mohd Siraj, who had a quiet match till that time, burst into action. He had Shedge (28) caught and bowled and then trapped Shardul Thakur (0) and cleaned up Tanush Kotian (2) to finish with figures of three for 21. He was named the Man of the Match. In a fine gesture, the star pacer shared the award with Tanmay for his magnificent knock.

Pragnay Reddy took three catches apart from the Rahane stumping to cap a fine day on the field.  Milind marshalled his resources well and this bowling changes were spot on. He never allowed the Mumbai batters to come back into the game.

SCOREBOARD

Mumbai: Y Jaiswal lbw Sai Yadav 29, A Rahane st Reddy b Thyagarajan 13, S Khan c Reddy b Milind 5, A Raghuvanshi c Reddy b Ahmed 4, A Ankolekar c Reddy b Thyagarajan 3, H Tamore c & b Milind 29, S Shedge c & b Siraj 28, S Patil (not out) 12, S Thakur lbw Siraj 0, T Kotian b Siraj 2, T Deshpande (run out) 1; Extras: (LB3, W2) 5. Total: (All out in 18.5 overs) 131.

Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-36, 3-52, 4-54, 5-67, 6-112, 7-118, 8-118, 9-130.

Bowling: Mohd Siraj 3.5-0-21-3, CV Milind 4-0-36-2, T Thyagarajan 4-0-27-2, N Sai Yadav 3-0-26-1, A Dev Goud 3-1-11-0, A Ahmed 1-0-7-1.

Hyderabad: Aman Rao (not out) 52, Tanmay Agarwal c T Kotian b T Deshpande 75, Pragnay Reddy (not out) 1; Extras: (W4) 4. Total: (For one wicket in 11.5 overs) 132.

Fall of wickets: 1-127

Bowling: S Thakur 1-0-24-0, A Ankolekar 3-0-37-0, T Deshpande 1.5-0-16-1, T Kotian 3-0-28-0, S Patil 2-0-19-0, S Shedge 1-0-8-0.