Wicketkeeper Sarvesh Rohilla spared Railways the blushes with a fighting knock against Hyderabad on the second day of their Col CK Nayudu Trophy match at the Railway Cricket Ground in Rajkot on Tuesday.
Hyderabad, who gained a 20-run first innings lead, were 89 for two with an overall lead of 109. Opener Aaron George was batting on 55 off 104 balls with eight fours.
Resuming at their overnight score of 21 for five, Railways batters put up a gritty show to deny Hyderabad a bigger lead. Opener Deepanshu Chaudhary and Virat Jaiswal began the recovery work in the morning. The duo added 37 for the sixth wicket before Jaiswal was bowled by Dinesh Rathod for 23 (45 balls; 4×4). In strode Sarvesh Rohilla to bat at No.8 and took charge of the proceedings.
Sarvesh falls 5 short of century
Sarvesh and Deepanshu took the score past the 100-run mark with a 48-run partnership for the seventh wicket before Deepanshu was trapped leg before by Pranav Varma for 43 off 79 balls with eight fours.
Wafi’s trick derails Railways innings as they struggle at 21/5; Teja helps Andhra recover
Railways lost Garv Sangwan (2) bowled by Varma as they were reduced to 115 for eight and it looked like Hyderabad were heading for a 100 plus lead. However, Sarvesh and No.10 bat Om Singh had other ideas. They defied the odds with a gritty partnership that took they closer to the Hyderabad total.
They added 77 in valuable runs for the ninth wicket before Sarvesh was caught by Abhishek off Rathod. Sarvesh contributed 58 off 70 balls and Om made five off 33 in the partnership.
The wicketkeeper-bat fell just five short of what would have been a memorable century. His 95 came off 115 balls with 10 fours and five sixes.
Om Singh continued to fight with Bhagwan Singh (5) in tow. They took the score to 226 before Om fell for 29 to Mohd Malik. Om made a patient 39 off 90 balls with five fours.
With a 20-run lead in hand, Aaron George and P Raghava added 59 for the first wicket before Raghava fell to Om Singh for 22. Aaron and skipper Aman Rao then added 30 to the total before Aman fell to Virat Jaiswal and the umpires called it a day.
Brief scores: Hyderabad 246 in 74.4 overs & 89/2 in 31 overs (Aaron George 55 batting) vs Railways 226 in 67.2 overs (Deepanshu Chaudhary 43, Sarvesh Rohilla 95, Virat Jaiswal 23, Om Singh 29; Wafi Kachchhi 3/16, Dinesh Rathod 3/49, Mohd Malik 2/35, Pranav Varma 2/45).
Bisesh, Nakul hammer unbeaten tons to put Jharkhand on top
At the Anantapur Cricket Ground, Jharkhand batters made merry with Bisesh Dutta and Nakul Yadav hammering unbeaten centuries.
Chasing Andhra’s 242, Jharkhand reached 231 for one by stumps on the second day. Bisesh was batting on 112 off 262 balls with 2 fours and two sixes, while Nakul Yadav was on 108 off 249 balls with seven fours.
Andhra bowlers made a good start as B Yashwanth had Aryan Hooda (4) caught by SDNV Prasad with just six on the board. However, that turned out to be the only good thing that went the hosts’ way the whole day.
Bisesh and Nakul then ground out the Andhra attack and sent the fielders on a leather hunt. The duo added a whopping 225 off 501 balls to take Jharkhand just 11 runs short of the Andhra score.
Dutta contributed 110 ff 252 balls, while Nakul made 108 off 249 balls.
Brief scores: Andhra 242 in 87.4 overs vs Jharkhand 231 for one in 86 overs (Bisesh Dutta 112 batting, Nakul Yadav 108 batting).
