Abhishek Kaushal and Sarvesh Rohilla struck unbeaten centuries to script Railways’ incredible come from behind five-wicket win over Hyderabad in the Col CK Nayudu Trophy at the Railway cricket ground in Rajkot on Thursday.
Needing 286 for victory, Railways were again, like the first innings, in the dump. They were 65 for four when play ended on the penultimate day’s play.
Upon resumption on the final day, Railways lost Virat Jaiswal (6), who was caught by Sai Sharan off MP Abhishek at 93 for five. At this stage, the dice was loaded against Railways but Abhishek Kaushal, who had scored a duck in the first innings, and wicketkeeper Sarvesh Rohilla, who had helped Railways recover lost ground in the first innings with a superb 95, scripted a fairy tale victory.
The duo took the fight to the Hyderabad camp and rattled their rivals. They added a match-winning 193 for the unbroken sixth wicket to help Railways reach 286 for five.
The runs came off 298 balls with Sarvesh being the dominant partner as he contributed 116 off 138 balls, while Abhishek made 74 off 160 balls.
At the end of the play, Abhishek remained unconquered on 103 off 241 balsl with 14 fours and a six, while Sarvesh made struck 12 fours and five sixes in his knock.
Sarvesh’s gritty 95 salvages Railways’ pride, Hyd pretty placed with overall 109-run lead
Hyderabad, who had dominated play in the first three days, lost the plot on the final day. After managing to take a 20-run lead, Hyderabad had scored 265 in their second innings. Opener Aaron George topscored with 82 off 173 balls with 11 fours. No.9 Nishanth S made 48 off 72 balls with four fours and three sixes while the rest of the batters failed to contribute much to the total. Arpit Yadav took four for 61 for the Railways.
Brief scores: Hyderabad 246 in 74.4 overs & 265 in 94.2 overs (Aaron George 82, Nishant S 48, Arpit Yadav 4/61) lost to Railways Railways 226 in 67.2 overs & 286 for five in 89 overs (Abhishek Kaushal 103 not out, Sarvesh Rohilla 16 not out; Wafi Kachchhi 3/51).
Jharkhand take the honours
At the Anantapur cricket ground, Jharkhand took the honours by virtue of their 109-run lead over Andhra.
Replying to Andhra’s 242, Jharkhand went on to make 351 as Bisesh Dutta (136) and Nakul Yadav (114) scoring centuries.
In their second innings, Andhra reached 271 for eight before play was called off. Garimella Teja made 78 and the others chipped in with useful knocks to deny Jharkhand an outright victory.
Brief scores: Andhra 242 in 87.4 overs & 271 for eight in 100 overs (Haneesh Reddy 36 Munnangi Abhinav 35, Garimella Teja 78, G Sumith 23, SDNV Prasad 21, Varun Satwik 33, Battina Yashwanth 25 not out; Abhishek Yadav 4/83, H Harsh Raj 2/43) drew with Jharkhand 351 in 133.3 overs.
