Did Hyderabad miss the services of skipper CV Milind? After two resounding victories, Hyderabad were made to eat humble pie by Haryana, who posted a commanding 124-run victory in the Super League of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in Pune on Tuesday.
Haryana, Hyderabad and Mumbai finished with eight points each in Group A but Haryana, by virtue of a higher net run-rate, topped the table. Hyderabad were second and Mumbai third. Haryana made it to the final and take on Jharkhand.
The Hyderabad side seem to have missed a trick to two in the absence of Milind. The left-arm seamer was not only among the wickets but had also led the side admirably in the tournament. Milind was out of the game as he had suffered a groin muscle pull while fielding in the previous game.
On Tuesday, Hyderabad looked clueless on the field and skipper Tanay Thyagarajan was unable to rally his forces against the rampaging Haryana batters.
Thayagarajan won the toss and asked Haryana to bat first but thereafter nothing went right for the team. Openers Arsh Ranga and skipper Ankit Kumar went after the Hyderabad attack and ran up 81 in 7.4 overs or 46 balls before Thyagarajan had Ranga (30) caught behind by Pragnay Reddy.
Soon the belligerent Ankit (57; 27b, 1×4, 6×6) fell to Md Afraz and Nishant Sindhu (7) too departed. He was caught by Thyagarajan off Ajay Dev Goud. Ashish Siwach became Thyagarajan’s second wicket after scoring 22 and Yashvardhan Dalal (11) fell to CTL Rakshann.
But Samant Jakhar and Parth Vats combined forces to put the Hyderabad attack to the sword. The duo added 81 off 32 balls to put the game out of Hyderabad’s reach.
Jakhar scored a 22-ball 60 which contained one four and eight sixes. Samant Jakhar broke the record for most sixes in an innings for Haryana in T20s. He went past Singh’s seven.
Parth fell for 45 off 19 balls with four fours and three sixes as Haryana made 246 for seven.
The Hyderabad chase fell apart even before it began. The consistent Tanmay Agarwal (3) and Aman Rao (13) went with just 16 on the board. Pragnay Reddy (19) and Buddhi Rahul added 42 for the third wicket but thereafter wickets fell at regular intervals. The Haryana bowlers maintained a tight lease on their rivals and Hyderabad were bowled out for 122 in 16.1 overs. Rahul topscored with a 24-ball37(2×4, 2×6).
Jakhar was named the Player of the Match for his all-round performance. 368 is the highest match aggregate involving Haryana and Hyderabad in T20s.
SCOREBOARD
Haryana: Arsh Ranga c Pragnay b Thyagarajan 30, Ankit Kumar b Md Arfaz 57, Nishant Sindhu c Thyagarajan b Goud 7, Ashish Siwach c Jaiswal b Thyagarajan 22, Yashvardhan Dalal c Jaiswal b Rakshann 11, Samant Jakhar c Pragnay b Siraj 60, Parth Vats b Goud 45, SP Kumar (not out) 2, Anshul Kamboj (not out) 6; Extras: (W5, LB1) 6. Total: For 7 wickets in 20 overs) 246.
Fall of wickets: 1-81, 2-94, 3-102, 4-124, 5-135, 6-216, 7-240.
Bowling: Md Siraj 4-0-37-1, CTL Rakshann 4-0-51-1, T Thyagarajan 4-0-43-2, N Sai Yadav 3-0-36-0, A Dev Goud 4-0-66-2, Md Afraz 1-0-12-1.
Hyderabad: Aman Rao c SP Kumar b Kamboj 13, T Agarwal c Dalal b Bhardwaj 3, P Reddy lbw Bhardwaj 19, B Rahul b Rana 37, M Jaiswal c Dalal b Rana 7, T Thyagarajan c SP Kumar b Jakhar 16, Md Afraz c sub (Yuvraj) b Rana 6, A Dev Goud c Dalal bJakhar 8, N Sai Yadav (run out) 0, Md Siraj b Kamboj 5, CTL Rakshann (not out) 2; Extras: (W1, LB5) 6. Total: (All out in 16.1 overs) 122.
Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-16, 3-58, 4-68, 5-93, 6-99, 7-103, 8-103, 9-118.
Bowling: A Kamboj 3.1-0-16-2, I Bhardwaj 3-0-35-2, SP Kumar 3-0-28-0, P Vats 1-0-8-0, AR Rana 3-0-14-3, S Jakhar 3-0-16-2.
