Vijay Hazare Trophy: Hyderabad win a match, finally

Taking first strike, Hyderabad openers Akshath Reddy and Danny Derek Prince batted the sheen off the new ball over the course of 14.3 overs for 56 runs. Both openers were then dismissed within 10 runs of each other and suddenly, at 66 for 2, nervousness began to seep through the home dressing room.

However, captain G.H. Vihari and Tanmay Agarwal put on 107 for the third wicket to steer the hosts to safety before the middle and lower order batsmen swung hard to take their side to a challenging 271 for 8 in 50 overs. Tanmay was undoubtedly the batting star for Hyderabad with a 77-ball 83, a knock that included four boundaries and three sixes. Vihari too did his bit with an unruffled 51 (67 balls, 4x4, 1x6). For the fielding side, Jogeswar Bhumiz and Arup Das bagged three wickets each.

No sooner had Assam taken the field for the chase than they were in trouble. Ravi Kiran had Assam’s Sunday centurion Sarupam Purkayastha (2) caught at midwicket by B. Anirudh and the visiting side never quite recovered, despite opener Pallav Kumar Das’ fighting 54.

Ravi went on to scalp 3 for 30 while left-arm pacer C.V. Milind picked 3 for 44 as Assam were bowled out for just 199 off the last delivery of the 50th over.

At the Railways ground, Rajasthan’s M.N. Singh scored a century in vain as Yuvraj Singh blasted a quickfire, unbeaten 78 to take Punjab to a six-wicket victory.

M.N. Singh made 118 off 129 balls (six fours and three sixes) and, with support from P.R. Yadav (43), helped Rajasthan to 270 for 7 in their 50 overs. Barinder Singh Sran was the best Punjab bowler, scalping 4 for 60.

However, that total proved inadequate as Jiwanjot Singh (66) and Mandeep Singh (60) scored half-centuries before Yuvraj Singh took Punjab over the line in the 45th over. Meanwhile, Mumbai shot out Services for a mere 151 runs and then won the match by six wickets.