Leg-spinner Wafi Kachchhi’s hat-trick derailed Railways and put Hyderabad on top on the first day of their four-day Col CK Nayudu Trophy Elite match at the Railway Cricket Ground in Rajkot on Monday.
Replying to Hyderabad’s 246, Railways were reduced to 21 for five with Wafi doing the most damage.
Railways had a poor start as they lost opener Aayush Kumar (8), who was trapped leg before by MA Malik and Dharmendra Thakur (0) was caught by Avanish Rao off Dinesh Rathod to be reduced to 10 for two. Wafi then came to bowl the eighth over of the innings and straight away struck three lethal blows.
With the first ball, he trapped Abhishek Kaushal (0) leg before and then bowled Jayant Kaiwart (0) and Arpit Yadav (0) off the next two balls to leave Railways reeling at 16 for five. Wafi ended the day with figures of 1-1-0-3.
Railways were 21 for five at stumps with opener Deepanshu Chaudhary batting on 8 and Virat Jaiswal on 4.
Aaron, Wafi, Sharan make half-centuries
Earlier, Hyderabad, batting first, were off to a solid start with openers Aaron George and P Raghava putting on 64 for the first wicket with Aaron doing the bulk of the scoring. He made 50 off 74 balls with eight fours and a six before falling to Arpit Yadav, who struck again with the next ball to dismiss Hyderabad skipper Aman Rao (0).
Raghava fell for 23 and Aravelly Avanish Rao went for 26 as Hyderabad were reduced to 102 for four. But Wafi Kachchhi and R Sai Sharan stabilized the innings with an 80-run partnership for the fifth wicket before Sharan fell for 59 off 74 balls with four fours and five sixes.
Thereafter, Hyderabad lost their way and were bundled out for 246 with Wafi being the ninth wicket to fall after making 56 off 145 balls with five fours. Arpit Yadav was the most successful Railways bowler with a five for 45 haul. Bhagwan Singh took three for 37.
Brief scores: Hyderabad 246 in 74.4 overs (Aaron George 50, Wafi Kachchhi 56, R Sai Sharan 59; Bhagwan Singh 3/37, Arpit Yadav 5/45) vs Railways 21/5 in 9 overs (Wafi Kachchhi 3/0)
Teja makes 91 to help Andhra reach 242 against Jharkhand
Garimella Teja missed out on a century, but his knock helped Andhra post a reasonable score against Jharkhand on the opening day of their Col CK Nayudu Trophy Elite match at the Anantapur Cricket Ground in Ananthapur, Andhra Pradesh, on Monday.
By stumps on the first day, Andhra reached 242. Batting first, Andhra lost two early wickets to be reduced to 10 for two. TV Sai Sravan (0) and Munnangi Abhinav (6) fell without much ado.
But opener Haneesh Reddy (39) and Teja steadied the innings with an 83-run partnership for the third wicket before Haneesh fell. Teja then found another able partner in Varun Satwik and the duo consolidated their position
Teja and Varun added 95 to the Andhra total before the former perished after a well-made 91 off 177 balls with nine fours. Thereafter, Andhra lost their way as wickets fell at regular intervals. From 188 for three, they were bundled out for 242. Varun fell for 49 off 90 balls with six fours.
Md Afsar took four for 21 for Jharkhand, while Yogesh and Abhishek Yadav took two wickets apiece.
Brief scores: Andhra 242 in 87.4 overs (Haneesh Reddy 39, Garimella Teja 91, Varun Satwik 49, Battina Yashwanth 24; Md Afsar 4/21, Yogesh 2/26, Abhishek Yadav 2/65).
