What seemed to be a routine chase for Mumbai’s strong batting line-up against Hyderabad turned into a spicy one at Ahmedabad in the second round of Vijay Hazare Trophy. Chasing 170 for a win, Mumbai binned the conventional method and reversed their batting order as Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer and Shivam Dube were demoted to No 8, 9 & 10 as they scrambled to a three-wicket win.
On a pitch where bowlers did all the talking, Mumbai’s move seemed vindicated as they preferred their established names to complete the job when the ball became soft. Having lost their previous match against Karnataka, it was a bold move from Mumbai as their top-7 read: Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Ayush Mhatre, Hardik Tamore, Suryansh Shedge, Atharva Ankolekar, Shardul Thakur and Tanush Kotian.
The move, though, spectacularly backfired as Mumbai were reduced to 67/6 before Kotian (39 n.o) and Suryakumar (18) steadied the ship. It needed one of them to put their hand up and play a counter-attacking innings and skipper Shreyas took it upon himself. Walking in at No 9, Shreyas scored 44 off 20 deliveries to take them home.
Earlier, left-arm spinner Ankolekar was the star performer with the ball, returning with figures of 10-1-55-4 as Hyderabad lost their way after their openers put on 85 for the first wicket. The 17-year-old Mhatre was also amongst wickets, taking three wickets with his off-breaks as Hyderabad were dismissed for 169 in 38.1 overs.
Brief scores: At Ahmedabad: Hyderbad 169 in 38.1 overs (Tanmay Agarwal 64, A Avanish 52; Atharva Ankolekar 4/55, Ayush Mhatre 3/17) lost to Mumbai 175/7 in 25.1 overs (Shreyas Iyer 44 no, Tanush Kotian 39 no; Sharanu Nishanth 3/42)
Gaikwad blitz
With less than two months to go for the Champions Trophy, an immediate opening in the Indian ODI squad may not be around the corner, but Ruturaj Gaikwad continues to make a strong case for his inclusion. The opener, who has stellar numbers in the format with a List A average of 57.37, sent a strong reminder on Monday, scoring an unbeaten 74-ball 148 as Maharashtra chased down Services total of 204 in just 20.2 overs at Ahmedabad to win by 9 wickets.
Despite having the runs in the format, Gaikwad’s omission from India’s white-ball squads have raised eyebrows. While a spot in the T20I set-up may not be in the offing immediately, with Rohit Sharma struggling for runs, Gaikwad’s runs come at a crucial juncture for India. Though he didn’t feature in last season’s tournament, in 2022/23, Gaikwad had scored 660 runs in just 5 innings. And courtesy his latest century against Services, he now has 14 from 45 innings in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Playing at the venue where he scored a career-best 220 in the format against UP, Gaikwad single-handedly demolished Services. Beyond his unbeaten 148, the next best score was 24 from fellow opener Om Bhosale. Their No 3 Siddesh Veer remained unbeaten on 22 as Gaikwad scored at a strike-rate of 200 in an innings that included 16 boundaries and 11 sixes. Out of the 16 fours, only three came on the leg-side – all towards mid-wicket – as he repeatedly pierced the off-side field. In striking contrast, out of the 11 sixes, 10 came on the leg-side. Four were hit over mid-wicket, two each over square-leg and fine-leg, one over long-on and another wide of the mid-off fielder. Having faced 31 dot balls, his 148 effectively came off 43 deliveries.
Gaikwad’s innings for sure overshadowed the all-round effort of Maharashtra bowlers who did well to dismiss Services to 204 in 48 overs. Apart from captain Mohit Ahlawat who top-scored with 61, the rest of the Services batsmen failed to convert their starts.
Services 204 in 48 overs (Mohit Ahlawat 61; Satyajeet Bachhav 3/36, Pradeep Dadhe 3/38) lost to Maharashtra 205/1 in 20.2 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 148 n.o).
Baroda cross 400
Elsewhere at Hyderabad, which saw big totals being the norm in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the same trend continued in this tournament as well. After being asked to bat first at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium by Kerala, Baroda posted a massive 403/4. While opener Ninad Rathwa set the tone with 136 off 99 deliveries, it was skipper Krunal Pandya who inflicted further damage on Kerala, scoring an unbeaten 80 off just 54 deliveries. He was ably supported by Parth Kohli (72) while Vishnu Solanki and Bhanu Pania played the ideal cameos to power Baroda.
Chasing a massive total, Kerala who are playing the tournament without Sanju Samson, went for it but were always behind the asking rate. Rohan Kunnummal (65) and Ahammed Imran (51) gave them a solid start before Mohammed Azharuddeen fought a lone battle, hitting 104 off just 58 deliveries. But he found no support from the other end as Baroda kept chipping away with wickets before dismissing them for 341 in 45.5 overs.
Baroda 403/4 in 50 overs (Ninad Rathwa 136, Krunal Pandya 80, Parth Kohli 72) bt Kerala 341 in 45.5 overs (Mohammed Azharuddeen 104, Rohan Kunnummal 65, Ahammed Imran 51; Akash Singh 3/70).
Saini picks 4
At the Gymkhana grounds, pacer Navdeep Saini picked up four wickets to bowl Delhi to a crucial 79-run win over Madhya Pradesh. Asked to bat first, Delhi managed only 213 with Anuj Rawat top-scoring with 78. Delhi were losing their way and were placed at 86/5 before Rawat dropped anchor to take them to a total that their attack can make a contest out of.
Defending a modest total, Delhi needed to strike inside the first powerplay, but MP openers Harsh Gawli and Subhranshu Senapati started off on a solid note putting together 68 runs. And once Hrithik Shokeen gave them the opening by removing Gawli, Delhi took control of the game in no time. Thereafter, Saini broke MP’s back with four wickets even as Shokeen added two more to his tally. Prince Yadav took two wickets as MP were shut down for 132 in 37.1 overs.
Delhi 211 in 48.4 overs (Anuj Rawat 78, Sarthak Ranjan 41; Kumar Kartikeya 2/24) bt Madhya Pradesh 132 in 37.1 overs (Subhranshu Senapati 55; Navdeep Saini 4/37, Hrithik Shokeen 3/26).
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