A seemingly routine chase for Mumbai’s strong batting line-up against Hyderabad turned into a spicy affair in Ahmedabad in the second round of the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Chasing a target of 170 for victory, Mumbai adopted the traditional method and reversed their batting order as they landed Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer and Shivam Dubey at 8, 9 and 10 in a three-wicket victory.
On a pitch where the bowlers did all the talking, Mumbai’s move looked vindicated as they preferred their established names to get the job done when the ball softened. After losing their previous match against Karnataka, it was a bold move by Mumbai as their top-7 read: Ankrish Raghuvanshi, Ayush Mhatre, Hardik Tamore, Suryansh Shedge, Atharva Ankolekar, Shardul Thakur and Tanush Kotian.
The move backfired spectacularly as Mumbai were reduced to 67/6 before Kotian (No.39) and Suryakumar (18) steadied the ship. One of them needed to put his hands up and play a counter-attacking innings and skipper Shreyas took it upon himself. Reaching number 9, Shreyas returned home with 44 off 20 balls.
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 an 85-run first-wicket partnership. 17-year-old Mhatre also took three wickets in the off-break as Hyderabad were bowled out for 169 in 38.1 overs.
Gaekwad’s strike
With the Champions Trophy less than two months away, an opening in the Indian ODI squad may not be around the corner immediately, but Ruturaj Gaikwad continues to make a strong case for his inclusion. List A’s top-ranked opener in the format with an average of 57.37 sent a strong reminder on Monday, scoring an unbeaten 148 off 74 balls as Maharashtra chased down Services’ total of 204 in 20.2 overs to win by nine runs in Ahmedabad. Wicket.
Despite the run in the format, Gaekwad’s exit from India’s white-ball squad has raised eyebrows. While a spot in the T20I setup may not be locked up immediately, with Rohit Sharma struggling for runs, Gaikwad’s runs come at a crucial juncture for India. Although he did not play in last season’s tournament, Gaekwad scored 660 runs in 5 innings in 2022/23. And courtesy of his latest century against Services, he now has 14 in 45 innings in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
Gaekwad single-handedly demolished the service, playing at the position where he scored a career-best 220 runs in the format against UP. Apart from his unbeaten 148, the other best score was 24 by fellow opener Om Bhosle. Their No. 3 Siddesh Veer remained unbeaten on 22 as Gaekwad scored a strike rate of 200 in an innings with 16 fours and 11 sixes. Of the 16 fours, only three came on the leg side – all towards mid-wicket – as he repeatedly pierced the off-side field. In contrast, 10 of the 11 sixes came on the leg side. Four over mid-wicket, two each over square-leg and fine-leg, one over long-on and one over wide mid-off fielder. Facing 31 dot balls, he scored 148 runs in 43 balls.
Gaikwad’s innings certainly overshadowed the all-round efforts of the Maharashtra bowlers who did well to dismiss Seva for 204 in 48 overs. Apart from captain Mohit Ahlawat, who scored the highest 61 runs, the rest of the service batsmen could not change their start.
In the next match in Ahmedabad, Karnataka defeated Pondicherry by 3 wickets and got their second win in a row.
Baroda Touch 400
Elsewhere in Hyderabad, which saw huge totals become the norm in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, the same trend continued in this tournament. Asked to bat first by Kerala at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Baroda posted a massive 403/4. Opener Ninad Rathwa scored 136 runs off 99 balls while captain Krunal Pandya did more damage to Kerala with an unbeaten 80 off just 54 balls. He was supported well by Parth Kohli (72) while Vishnu Solanki and Bhanu Pania played ideal cameos to power Baroda.
Chasing a big score, Kerala who were playing the tournament without Sanju Samson, went for it but the asking rate was always behind. Rohan Kunammal (65) and Ahmed Imran (51) got off to a strong start before Mohammad Azharuddin put up a lone battle with 104 off just 58 balls. But he got no support from the other end as Baroda chipped away at wickets before being bowled out for 341 in 45.5 overs.
At the Gymkhana ground, fast bowler Navdeep Saini took four wickets as Delhi defeated Madhya Pradesh by 79 runs. Asked to bat first, Delhi managed just 213 with Anuj Rawat top scoring with 78 runs. Delhi lost their way and were put at 86/5 while Rawat provided the anchor to a total that their attack could compete with.
Defending a modest score, Delhi needed to strike within the first powerplay, but MP openers Harsh Gawli and Subranshu Senapati started on a solid note with a 68-run partnership. And after Hrithik Shokin gave the opening by removing Gawli, Delhi took control of the game in no time. Saini then broke MP’s back with four wickets but Shokin added two more to his tally. MP was bowled out for 132 runs in 37.1 overs after Prince Yadav took 2 wickets.
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