Akshath ton fails to crack tough visitors in title clash
Members of the India Cements team pose with ICC president Zaheer Abbas, former Test cricketers Syed Kirmani, V.V.S. Laxman and HCA officials after they lifted the Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad
Hyderabad: India Cements lifted the Moin-ud Dowla Gold Cup by virtue of taking the first innings lead against Hyderabad XI on the third and final day of their title clash here on Wednesday.
Resuming at their overnight score of 75 for 2, the hosts were in pursuit of Cements’ first innings total of 299 but fell woefully short as none of the batsmen, barring opener P. Akshath Reddy, stood their ground.
Akshath waged a lone battle with a crafty century but helplessly watched his partners at the other end constantly changing as Hyderabad began to slip steadily out of the game. After Akshath’s 101, Extras (20) were the next best on the Hyderabad scoresheet.
Akshath dug deep in dogged determination and kept collecting runs during the course of his fighting knock that came off 191 balls and included 13 boundaries and a six. The opener was the ninth batsman out, with the team score reading 202 in the 69th over.
With the match well and truly in the bag, Cements prodded around in their second innings to score 37 for 1 in the 20 overs possible when stumps were drawn.
Captain Abhinav Mukund, who set it up for the winners with his 154 in the first innings, was declared Man of the Match and collected the Gowri Shanker Memorial Trophy for the effort.
Hyderabad XI had to be content with the S.M. Hadi Memorial Trophy for being runners-up. B. Anirudh of the second string Hyderabad President’s XI was feted for scoring a record successive centuries in three innings at the tournament.
It would have put a spring in Hyderabad XI opener Akshath Reddy’s step had the HCA made a mention of his three centuries in the tournament as well and handed out a small memento to the promising batsman for finishing the second highest scorer with 441 runs (behind Abhinav Mukund’s 467) at the presentation ceremony.
Hyderabad captain Vihari aggregated the third highest (364). He was followed by B. Anirudh with 353.
Brief scores
India Cements 299 & 37/1 in 20 overs drew with Hyderabad XI 207 in 71.2 overs (Akshath Reddy 101, J. Koushik 3/31, L. Balaji 3/39, Rahil Shah 1/17).
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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