A middle-order collapse triggered by Mohammed Siraj’s second spell (5-0-19-2) spelt doom for Andhra as it fell to a 14-run defeat against Hyderabad in a Vijay Hazare Trophy quarterfinal match at the Just Cricket Ground, near here, on Monday.
While skipper Hanuma Vihari (95, 99b, 8x4, 4x6) was at the crease, the 282-run target seemed way less daunting. Along with Ricky Bhui (52, 71b, 5x4, 1x6), he combined for a 112-run third wicket association to bring the equation down to 84 runs off 81 balls. The two had also ensured that their side was always ahead of the VJD method par score in the likelihood of rain.
But first Bhui was caught at third man while attempting an upper cut and then Vihari chopped one onto his stumps. When Ravi Teja was bowled by Ravi Kiran immediately after, Andhra had lost three wickets for just 11 runs and never really recovered from there.
Master-class
Vihari though was a class apart. Coming in at one drop, he sent the Hyderabad bowlers scurrying for cover from the outset. The first boundary was an immaculate drive off Siraj and he followed that up with a massive hooked six, with Siraj the bowler again.
He then hoisted left-arm spinner Mehdi Hasan twice over the long off fence, before reaching his half-century with another ground-clearing effort, this time off Akash Bhandari, Hasan’s spin partner. Bhandari couldn’t hold on to a tough chance off his own bowling when Vihari was on 59. But for that, it was a chanceless innings which deserved better a return than what it fetched.
Earlier, after Andhra won the toss and opted to field, Hyderabad registered its highest total in this year’s competition. No.4 batsman B. Sandeep’s 96-run knock (97b, 7x4, 1x6) was the glue which held Hyderabad together even as a clutch of small but sizeable efforts by the likes of Tanmay Agarwal (31, 44b) and captain Ambati Rayudu (28, 37b) helped swell the total.
There was a brief hiccup when Hyderabad appeared to lose the plot with some conservative batting leading into the death overs. But 34 runs from the last four set the ship on the right course.
At the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Jharkhand eased past Maharashtra by eight wickets (VJD method) in a rain-affected fixture. Left-arm spinner Anukul Roy took four for 32 as Jharkhand, electing to field, ismissed Maharashtra for 181.
Rain twice interrupted the run-chase, leaving Ishan Kishan's men chasing a revised target of 127 in 34 overs.
Shasheem Rathour and Saurabh Tiwary added 66 runs in an unbroken third-wicket stand as their side achieved the task with 10 balls to spare.
The scores:
Hyderabad 281 for eight in 50 overs (Tanmay Agarwal 31, B. Sandeep 96) bt Andhra 267 for nine in 50 overs (Ashwin Hebbar 38, Hanuma Vihari 95, Ricky Bhui 52, Mohammed Siraj three for 50).
Maharashtra 181 in 42.2 overs (Rohit Motwani 52, Rahul Tripathi 47, Anukul Roy four for 32, Rahul Shukla three for 35) lost to Jharkhand [revised target: 127 in 34 overs] 127 for two in 32.2 overs (Shasheem Rathour 53 n.o., Saurabh Tiwary 29 n.o., Ishan Kishan 28).