Hyderabad Under-23 team has a mountain to climb on the last day of their four-day Col CK Nayudu Trophy match against Vidarbha at the NFC ground in Hyderabad on Monday. The hosts still need 391 runs to win with nine wickets in hand.
Set a whopping 433 for victory, Hyderabad lost first innings centurion Pattapu Raghava (4) with four on the board. However, Wafi Kachchhi (16) and M Ruthik Yadav (21) held the fort steady as Hyderabad reached 42 for one in 14 overs at stumps on the penultimate day on Sunday.
The Hyderabad team has been struggling to come to terms with their rivals and have fallen behind them in all departments of the game. A ‘weakened’ Hyderabad team has looked out of sorts and has had to play the catch-up game against their rivals.
Without the likes of P Aman Rao, Pranav Varma and Nitin Sai Yadav, who were drafted into the Ranji Trophy squad, the Hyderabad Under-23 team has struggled in this game.
After taking a handsome 155-run first innings lead, Vidarbha drove home the advantage further. Openers Vedant Dighade and Abhishek Agrawal hammered the Hyderabad bowlers to all parts of the ground as they ran up 118 runs for the first wicket.
M Shashank brought relief for the home camp when he trapped Vedant leg before. The opener had made a 96-ball 59 with nine fours and a six.
However, there was no respite for the hosts as Abhishek and Aditya Ahuja (23) took the total to 155 for two with a 37-ball partnership. Ruthik Yadav got the breakthrough when he had Aditya leg before.
Vidarbha captain Mohd Faiz entered the fray and along with Abhishek consolidated his team’s position. The duo added 62 off 78 balls before Abhishek fell. He struck 13 boundaries in his 108 after facing 153 balls. He was caught by Shashank of Dinesh Rathod.
Fast bowler Mohd Abdul Adnan, who grabbed four for 50 in Vidarbha’s first innings, then struck twice in quick succession to reduce Vidarbha to 246 for five. But it did not make much difference as Vidarbha were galloping towards a big score.
Faiz declared the innings closed after reaching his 50 (71 balls, 5×4) with Vidarbha on 277 for five. He, thereby, gave his bowlers a chance to grab a couple of wickets before close of play.
His bowlers responded by grabbing a wicket and will be looking to finish off the game on the morrow so that they gain maximum points. For Hyderabad it will be quite a herculean task to save the match but if they do it, it will be a big bonus for the team.
SCOREBOARD
Vidarbha (1st innings): 420.
Hyderabad (1st innings, overnight 238/6): Pattapu Raghava c Ahuja b Farde 104, Wafi Kachchhi c Dighade b Ingle 35, Aravelly Avanish b Kawale 23, Mayank Gupta lbw Kawale 9, Dheeraj Goud lbw Farde 27, Vignesh Reddy run out (sub-Prabhal Choukhande) 2, M Ruthik Yadav b Ingle 31, Shashank M lbw Kawale 17, Mohd Abdul Adnan st Dighade b Kawle 1, Malik b Farde 8, Dinesh Rathod (not out) 0; Extras: (B7, LB1) 8. Total: (All out in 86.4 overs) 265.
Fall of wickets: 1-58, 2-98, 3-118, 4-167, 5-171, 6-229, 7-241, 8-244, 9-261.
Bowling: Arjun Ingle 14-1-50-1, Sanskar Chavate 14-2-35-0, Gaurav Farde 15-1-61-3, Himanshu Kawale 29.4-8-69-4, Jagjot 14-2-42-0.
Vidarbha (2nd innings): Vedant Dighade lbw Shashank 59, Abhishek S Agrawal c Shashank b Rathod 108, Aditya Ahuja lbw Ruthik 23, Md Faiz (not out) 50, Varun Raj Singh Bisht b MA Adnan 11, Jagjot lbw MA Adnan 7, Shree Choudhary (not out) 14; Extras: (NB2, LB3) 5. Total: (For 5 wickets declared in 62.3 overs) 277.
Fall of wickets: 1-118, 2-155, 3-217, 4-236, 5-246.
Bowling: Malik 43-1-24-0, Dinesh Rathod 9-1-38-1, Wafi Kachchhi 8-1-20-0, MA Adnan 8-0-38-2, Shashank M 18-1-83-1, M Ruthik Yadav 13-1-60-1, Mayank Gupta 1-0-8-0, Vignesh Reddy 1-0-3-0.
Hyderabad (2nd innings, target 433): Pattapu Raghava c Bisht b Farde 4, Wafi Kachchhi (batting) 16, M Ruthik Yadav (batting) 21; Extras: (B1) 1. Total: (For one wicket in 14 overs) 42.
Fall of wicket: 1-4.
Bowling: Gaurav Farde 5-0-30-1, Arjun Ingle 2-0-5-0, Himanshu Kawale 4-0-4-0, Jagjot 3-1-2-0.
