C Guru Vidhwan hit a half-century to set up Khammam’s 15-run win over Medak in the final of the HCA Inter-Districts one-day tournament on Thursday.
In what turned out to be a gripping final, Khammam managed to keep Medak at bay and carve out a narrow victory.
Batting first, Khammam made 276 for eight in 45 overs with Guru Vidhwan making 76. Lending him support were P Dhruva with 47, KVS Charan with 39 and K Manvith, who scored an unbeaten 34.
The Medak reply revolved around Saif Bin Sohail who made 42 but the others failed to come to the party was Medak were bowled out for 261.
Brief scores: Khammam 276/8 in 45 overs (C Guru Vidhwan 76, P Dhruva 47, KVS Charan 39, K Manvith 34no) beat Medak 261 in 44.5 overs (Saif Bin Sohail 42).
Pragnay ton puts EMCC on top; Mayank keeps Evergreen alive
EMCC took the all-important first innings lead thanks to M Sai Pragnay Reddy’s century in the HCA A Division (2-day) league championship final.
At stumps on the second day, Evergreen were 106 for three in 31 overs with Mayank Gupta batting on 51. Mayank, who was dropped from the Hyderabad Under-23 team on Wednesday, served notice to the Junior Selection Committee that he was not done yet. The right-handed batter, who scored a 70 in the first innings, backed it up with an unbeaten knock which kept Evergreen in the hunt.
Mayank had not done too badly for the Under-23 team. In fact, he had batted out of his skin to save the game against Vidarbha and like everyone else had failed in the second innings against Mumbai. If his captaincy was not up to mark, the selectors had the right to replace him and that they did by giving the reins to P Aman Rao. But dropping Mayank from the squad itself has raised many eyebrows and raises questions of fairness and transparency on the part of the selection committee.
Earlier, it was Sai Pragnay Reddy who stole the show. The batter, who is in brilliant form, struck a 192 ball 148 with 20 fours and a six to help EMCC reach 263. Md Saqlain Arafat was the wrecker-in-chief for Evergreen as he took four for 53.
Brief scores: Evergreen 247 in 57.2 overs & 106/3 in 31 overs (Mayank Gupta 51 batting) vs EMCC 263 in 78.4 overs (M Sai Pragnay Reddy 148; Md Saqlain Arafat 4/53).
