Ravi Teja’s four-wicket haul helped Hyderabad get back to winning ways after beating Bihar in a Group ‘A’ fixture of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at the Niranjan Shah Stadium Ground C here on Friday.
The target of 119 was too low for Tilak Varma (51 off 31) and Rohit Rayudu (56 off 33) to fret about, as they finished the chase in the 13th over with nine wickets in hand.
Only for a moment did Bihar’s camp have Hyderabad sweating. Sakib Hussain bowled at a quick pace. His slingshot-like action might have added one or two yards as well, as he went past Tanmay Agarwal’s outside edge three times in a row in the third over. An over later, Nawaz Khan had Tanmay caught.
The ball stopped before coming onto the bat, and slower balls weren’t easy to hit unless you muscled them. In Rayudu and Tilak, Hyderabad found enough power to keep finding the boundaries at will.
Rayudu, opening for the first time this tournament, hit seven fours and a six and didn’t allow the Bihar bowlers to settle. Tilak, at the other end, played second fiddle, but he too cleared the fence four times as Hyderabad secured its second win of the tournament.
Earlier, Bihar was sent in to bat, and its quest to put up a winning total depended on how much its opener, the team’s top scorer and captain Sakibul Gani, would score.
Gani was off the mark with a quick single. His first boundary came when he hit a late cut against spinner Nitin Sai Yadav and followed it up with a lofted drive over cover on the backfoot. Against Rakshann Readdi, Gani also found the fence towards mid-on, but an over later, Chama Milind had him caught. He scored 15 runs in his 11-ball stay.
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Once Gani was out, Hyderabad bowlers assumed control. For Bihar, Kumar Rajnish and Sraman Nigrodh added 36 runs for the fifth wicket, a partnership built around running between the wickets. Rajnish slog-swept for a six, but the focus remained on not losing a wicket, meaning only a few aggressive strokes were played.
Hyderabad bowlers kept varying the pace and lengths to control the scoring rate.
In the 13th over, Nigrodh found an opportunity. A full toss, almost waist height, by Teja was slogged towards midwicket, only to be caught in the deep. There was a moment of hope for Nigrodh when umpires looked at each other, but not for long, and he had to walk back.
By the end of the innings, Teja finished with 4 for 26, and disciplined support from the rest of the pack kept Bihar to a modest total of 118/9.
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