Published: December 24, 2025 at 12:09 pm
Rinku Singh-led Uttar Pradesh handed out Hyderabad an 84-run loss in their opening Group B match in the Vijay Hazare Trophy at Rajkot on Wednesday. Without the services of pacers Mohd Siraj and CV Milind, the Hyderabad attack lacked teeth and failed to trouble the Uttar Pradesh batters.
Hyderabad skipper Rahul Singh won the toss and invited Uttar Pradesh to bat first. They gleefully grabbed the opportunity and laid bare the weakness of the Hyderabad bowling attack. The top three Uttar Pradesh batters scored half-centuries and skipper Rinku Singh rubbed salt in the Hyderabad wounds at the end of the innings as Uttar Pradesh ran up 324 for five. In reply, the Hyderabad innings folded up for 240.
Uttar Pradesh openers Abhishek Goswami and Aryan Juyal took on the listless Hyderabad bowlers and ran up a century partnership. The pair added 152 off 163 runs to lay a solid platform for their side. Goswami was the aggressive of the lot as he hit a run-a-ball 81 before he was caught by Rakshann Readdi off debutant Arfaz Ahmed. His knock contained 10 fours and a six.
Dhruv Jurel joined Juyal and they continued with their merry making, but Tanay Thyagarajan put an end to Juyal’s innings when he had him caught by Rahul Singh for 80, which came off 96 balls with nine fours and a six.
Sameer Rizvi (2) fell quickly but Jurel and Rinku strung another useful partnership, which virtually shut the doors on Hyderabad. Jurel did the most damage in this partnership as he hammered 51 off just 29 balls before falling to Readdi. His 80 came off just 61 balls with four boundaries and an equal number over the fence.
Rinku was more than willing to play second fiddle to Jurel but once the latter fell, Rinku took over. Rinku hit 31 off 16 balls in the 39-run partnership for the fifth wicket before falling with two balls left in the innings. Rinku became Arfaz Ahmed’s second wicket but not before he hit a 48-ball 67 with six fours and two sixes.
Uttar Pradesh bowlers keep Hyderabad batters on a tight leash
Hyderabad needed a solid start, but opener Abhirath Reddy (0) was trapped leg before by Kartik Tyagi in the second over of the innings. Rahul joined Tanmay Agarwal and that led to the most productive phase of the Hyderabad innings. The duo added 94 off 71 balls with Tanmay scoring 47 of those. Rahul contributed 32 off 38 balls (5×4) before falling to debutant Zeeshan Ansari.
Tanmay didn’t last long after that as he was snapped up by Jurel off Vipraj Nigam after making 53 (43 balls; 9×4, 2×6). Rahul Buddhi and A Varun Goud did their best to steady the rocking boat as they added 73 for the fourth wicket. Rahul contributed 41 and Varun scored 26 before Rahul (47; 64 balls; 2×4, 2×6) became Zeeshan’s second wicket.
Thereafter, wickets fell at regular intervals as Hyderabad lost steam. Varun Goud was the eighth wicket to fall after he scored 45 off 62 balls with two fours and a six.
List A debutants Ansari and Prashant Veer did the most damage with four for 31 and three for 47 respectively. For Hyderabad, Arfaz Ahmed too had a good debut taking two for 59.
SCOREBOARD
Uttar Pradesh: Abhishek Goswami c Readdi b Ahmed 81, Aryan Juyal c Rahul b Thyagarajan 80, Dhruv Jurel c Goud b Readdi 80, Sameer Rizvi c Ahmed b Yadav 2, Rinku Singh c Yadav b Ahmed 67, Prashant Veer (not out) 7, Priyam Garg (not out) 1; Extras: (W6) 6. Total: (For 5 wickets in 50 overs) 324.
Fall of wickets: 1-152, 2-190, 3-197, 4-284, 5-323.
Bowling: Rakshan Readdi 10-0-62-1, Kartikeya Kak 10-0-76-0, Tanay Thyagarajan 10-0-51-1, Arfaz Ahmed 8-0-59-2, Nitin Sai Yadav 10-0-60-1, A Varun Goud 2-0-16-0.
Hyderabad: Tanmay Agarwal c Jurel b Nigam 53, Abhirath Reddy lbw Tyagi 0, Rahul Singh c Nigam b Ansari 32, Rahul Buddhi c Nigam b Ansari 47, A Varun Goud st Jurel b Veer 45, Pragnay Reddy b Veer 2, Arfaz Ahmed c Rizvi b Ansari 0, Nitin Sai Yadav b Veer 14, Tanay Thyagarajan c sub (Adarsh) b Tyagi 13, Rakshan Readdi (not out) 6, Kartikeya Kak c Nigam b Ansari 0; Extras: (LB5, NB1, w22) 28; Total: (All out in 43 overs) 240.
Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-101, 3-110, 4-183, 5-186, 6-188, 7-215, 8-233, 9-239.
Bowling: Vaibhav Chaudhary 6-0-43-0, Kartik Tyagi 6-0-45-2, Rinku Singh 3-0-29-0, Vipraj Nigam 8-0-40-1, Zeeshan Ansari 10-0-31-4, Prashant Veer 10-047-3.
