Leg spinner Vipraj Nigam and pacer Aquib Khan bowled Uttar Pradesh to a 26-run win over Hyderabad in the Col CK Nayudu Trophy at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad on Friday.
Hyderabad began the final day in the driver’s seat needing 120 for an outright win with eight wickets in hand. More importantly they had skipper P Aman Rao batting on 30 and giving him company was A Avanish Rao.
However, the hosts failed to register what was supposed to be a simple victory. The batters made a hash of things as the Uttar Pradesh bowlers kept a tight leash on the scoring and that paid rich dividends.
Hyderabad, resuming at 74 for two, lost Avanish Rao with the addition of just four more to the total in the third over of the day. Avanish was bowled by Aquib Khan for 24 off 33 balls with a four and a six. The Uttar Pradesh pace then struck two lethal blows in the same over. He castled Wafi Kachchhi (0) with the fourth ball of the over and then had R Sai Sharan (0) caught by AN Singh off the last ball to leave Hyderabad tottering at 78 for five.
Hyderabad need 120 more with eight wickets in hand to pull off a win against Uttar Pradesh
However, Aman Rao and Pranav Varma steadied the boat with a 50-run partnership that gave the Hyderabad camp hope off pulling off a victory. However, it was not to be so as Vipraj Nigam got into the act. The leggie bowled Pranav for 22 which came off 62 balls and contained two fours.
Vipraj then got rid of Khush Agarwal (12) and Tarun Raj (0) to leave Hyderabad in a delicate position at 146 for eight. To make matters worse for the hosts, skipper Aman Rao, who was holding fort at the other end, too fell. He was bowled by Vipraj after making 68 off 39 balls with 10 fours.
That more or less finished the Hyderabad challenge as getting 34 runs was too much to expect from Nishanth S (12) and Dinesh Rathod (1 not out). They added eight runs for the last wicket before Aquib Khan had Nishanth caught by Sameer Rizvi.
Vipraj finished with five for 72 and Aquib got four for 48. Ayush Choudhary got one for 31.
Hyderabad have lost their second match this season in three games while winning one. Khush Agarwal’s inclusion in the playing XI in the place of Abhishek Murugan has definitely not worked for Hyderabad.
Khush bowled only two overs in the entire game and as a batter got 3 in the first innings and 12 in the second. What was the rationale for the inclusion of Khush in team is something the team management will have to answer.
Brief scores: Uttar Pradesh 168 in 53.4 overs & 303 in 93.4 overs beat Hyderabad 278 in 84.4 overs & 167 in 57.3 overs (Aman Rao 68, A Avanish Rao 24, Pranav Varma 22; Aquib Khan 4/48, Vipraj Nigam 5/72).
