Baroda, in a high-scoring game, shut out Hyderabad’s challenge to carve out a 37-run win in their Vijay Hazare Trophy match at Rajkot on Wednesday. Hyderabad have lost their fourth consecutive game, and nothing seems to be working for them right now. A change of captaincy notwithstanding, things have only gone bad to worse for Hyderabad.
The solace they can take from this game is that the batters, namely Abhirath Reddy and Pragnay Reddy, battled valiantly before perishing. The mount they had to scale was just too high for them. Pragnay had a good day behind the stumps too with four victims to his credit.
Chasing a mammoth 418 for victory, Hyderabad openers Aman Rao and Tanmay Agarwal added 50 in 31 balls before Tanmay (32; 20 balls, 5×4, 1×6) fell to Atit Sheth. Aman and Abhirath then took the score to 88 before Aman was caught by Raj Limbani off Mahesh Pithiya for 9 (29 balls; 6×4, 1×6).
Thereafter, it was an Abhirath and Pragnay show as the youngsters hogged the limelight. The duo took the fight to the enemy camp and made merry. They added 200 for the third wicket off 145 balls with Abhirath doing the bulk of the scoring. He contributed 115 off 75 balls and Pragnay scored a 70-ball 80.
However, it was too good to last and Hyderabad soon had their hopes shattered. Mahesh Pithiya trapped Abhirath leg before and the challenge came to a premature end. Abhirath’s 130 came off 90 balls and contained 18 hits to the fence and two over it.
Thereafter, Hyderabad lost wickets at regular intervals and ended up with 380 on the board. Pragnay, who had a good day behind the stumps with three catches and a stumping, fell at 349 after making 113 off 98 balls with 11 fours and a six.
Earlier, Baroda’s top three slammed centuries to flay the listless Hyerabad attack. Openers Nitya Pandya and Amit Pasi toyed with the Hyderabad bowlers as they added a whopping 230 for the first wicket. The runs came off 180 balls with Pasi scoring 127 off 93 balls and Nitya contributing a 87-ball 94.
It was only in the 30th over that Hyderabad could get a breakthrough when Pasi was caught by Pragnay off Varun Goud. Pasi made a 93-ball 127 with 12 fours and seven sixes.
Nitya Pandya and skipper Krunal Pandya then added 68 for the second wicket before Nitya was stumped by Pragnay off Tanay Thyagarajan. Nitya made 122 off 110 balls with 12 fours and a six.
Hyderabad skipper CV Milind then struck twice in the same over to peg Baroda back. However, Krunal and Bhanu Pania denied Hyderabad any further progress. They added 115 for the unbroken fifth wicket to take Baroda to 417 for four. Krunal was not out on 109 off 63 balls with 18 boundaries and a six and Pania was on 42 off 27 balls with two fours and two sixes.
SCOREBOARD
Baroda: Nitya Pandya st Pragnay b Thyagarajan 122, Amit Pasi c Pragnay b Goud 127, Krunal Pandya (not out) 109, Jitesh Sharma c Pragnay b Milind 0, Vishnu Solanki c Pragnay b Milind 0, Bhanu Pania (not out) 42; Extras: (LB3, NB1, W13) 17. Total: (For 4 wickets in 50 overs) 417.
Fall of wickets: 1-230, 2-298, 3-302, 4-302.
Bowling: Rakshan Readdi 10-0-75-0, CV Milind 9-0-70-2, Tanay Thyagarajan 8-0-71-1, Arfaz Ahmed 8-0-70-0, Nitish Sai Yadav 9-0-77-0, Nitesh Reddy 4-0-38-0, A Varun Goud 2-0-13-1.
Hyderabad: Aman Rao c Limbani b Pithiya 39, Tanmay Agarwal c Sharma b Sheth 32, Abhirath Reddy lbw Pithiya 130, Pragnay Reddy c Pithiya b Limbani 113, A Varun Goud c Sheth b Umatt 11, Nitesh Reddy b Sheth 33, CV Milind c Pithiya b Umatt 3, Afraz Ahmed c Moliya b Sheth 0, Tanay Thyagarajan c sub (Rathva) b Limbani 2, Nitin Yadav c & b Pithiya 5, Rakshan Readdi (not out) 3; Extras: (LB, W5) 9. Total: (All out in 49.5 overs) 380.
Fall of wickets: 1-50, 2-88, 3-288, 4-313, 5-349, 6-368, 7, 368, 8-372, 9-372.
Bowling: Karan Umatt 10-0-84-2, Atit Sheth 10-0-73-3, Mahesh Pithiya 9.5-0-64-3, Raj Limbani 10-0-96-2, Krunal Pandya 10-0-59-0.
