The road to hell is paved with good intentions, goes a saying. The Hyderabad selectors’ intentions in changing the skipper and blooding fresh players may be in good faith but the timing seems to have gone all wrong.
Was it necessary to change the skipper with just two matches left in the competition and with Hyderabad having a negligible chance of making the knockouts?
https://khelkhiladis.com/have-the-selectors-erred-in-asking-siraj-to-lead/
Was it necessary to tamper with the Under-23 squad and bring in P Aman Rao, Nitin Sai Yadav and Pranav Varma, who incidentally didn’t play this match?
The question to be asked is what did the selectors achieve by making these changes in a game against 41-times champions and table toppers Mumbai? Even a layman would have thought twice before making such wholesome changes in both the squads.
https://khelkhiladis.com/are-selectors-weakening-the-under-23-team/
As a result, not only is the Hyderabad senior team staring at an ignominious innings loss, but the weakened Under-23 team too is not doing too well against Vidarbha. Hyderabad Under-23 team is battling it out 238 for six, replying to Vidarbha’s 420. They are still 182 runs behind the visitors and have four wickets in hand.
Hyderabad lose 15 wickets on the penultimate day
On Saturday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad lost 15 wickets in the day. At stumps on the penultimate day, the hosts were 166 for seven in their second innings with C V Milind batting on 30. Hyderabad are still 129 runs behind Mumbai’s first innings mammoth score of 560 and have only three wickets in hand.
It remains to be seen how long Milind and the tail will hold on to the morrow. Will they be able to at least avoid an innings loss? Looks quite unlikely. Who will be held accountable for the fiasco? The captain, the players, the selectors or the administrators?
Hyderabad began the day on a disastrous note as they lost overnight bat K Himateja (40) off the first ball of the day without any addition to the individual or team total.
Hyderabad continued to lose wickets at regular intervals with the batters unable to stay for long at the wicket. Rahul Radesh (13) departed at 159 and six runs later Rahul Singh, who waged a grim battle despite having an injured finger, fell for 96 which came off 164 balls and contained 11 fours and a six.
P Nitish Reddy continued with his woeful performance as he fell for 6, he followed it up with a duck in the second innings.
K Rohit Rayudu (37) and C V Milind (20) added 43 for the seventh wicket but that only delayed the inevitable. Hyderabad folded up for 267 and were asked to bat again as Mumbai were in a mood to go for the kill.
Himateja begins the day and also ends it
The tale was even worse than the first innings. Debutant Aman Rao (13) was the first to go at 21 but Abhirath Reddy (20) and Rahul Singh added 49 for the second wicket before Rahul went after making a quickfire 33 (20 balls, 5×4, 2×6).
Hyderabad were soon reduced to 111 for six but Himateja and Milind defied the visitors with a gritty 55-run partnership.
Himateja, who began the day by facing the first ball and getting out, ended it too by getting out. Once, he was out for 43 (71 balls, 6×4), the umpires called off play as Hyderabad were 166 for seven in 39.3 overs.
SCOREBOARD
Mumbai (1st Innings) 560
Hyderabad (1st Innings, overnight 138/2 in 41 overs): M Abhirath Reddy b Deshpande 4, P Aman Rao b Himanshu 7, Rahul Singh G b Himanshu 96, Himateja K b Herwadkar 40, Rahul Radesh c Anand b Avasthi 13, P Nitish c Anand b Avasthi 6, Rohit Rayudu c A Parkar b Deshpande 37, CV Milind c Himanshu b Tarmale 20, Nitin Sai Yadav b Musheer 18, Mohd Siraj c Deshpande b Himanshu 7, Rakshan Readdi (not out) 4; Extras: (B4, NB4, W1, LB6) 15. Total: (All out in 82.2 overs) 267.
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-38, 3-138, 4-159, 5-165, 6-171, 7-214, 8-234, 9-251.
Bowling: Tushar Deshpande 15.2-2-68-2, Himanshu Singh 27-10-39-3, Mohit Avasthi 14-1-54-2, Akash Parkar 7-2-20-0, Musheer Khan 12-0-49-1, Akhil Herwadkar 2-1-7-1, Onkar Tarmale 5-1-20-1.
Hyderabad (2nd innings, following on): P Aman Rao b Tarmale 13, M Abhirath Reddy b Musheer 20, G Rahul Singh c Sarfaraz b Musheer 33, K Rohit Rayudu c Herwadkar b Avasthi 7, Himateja K c Akash b Avasthi 43, Rahul Radesh c & b Avasthi 2, P Nitish Reddy c Avasthi b Musheer 0, CV Milind (batting) 30; Extras: (NB2, W2, B5, LB9) 18. Total: (For 7 wickets in 39.3 overs) 166.
Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-70, 3-73, 4-102, 5-106, 6-111, 7-166.
Bowling: Tushar Deshpande 8-1-29-0, Onkar Tarmale 6-1-26-1, Mohit Avasthi 6.3-2-31-3, Himanshu Singh 5-0-20-0, Musheer Khan 12-3-38-3, A Herwadkar 2-0-8-0.
