Hyderabad suffered a middle order collapse as Madhya Pradesh (MP) kept itself in the race for knockouts with a seven-run win in the group A match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at the Niranjan Shah Stadium here on Tuesday.
From 125 for three in the 14th over, Hyderabad fell to 143 for seven, losing four wickets in 16 balls including the big scalp of Tilak Varma, who scored 46 off 34 balls chasing 179. Kamal Tripathi changed the game when he had Tilak caught on the fence before getting Prateek Reddy and Tanay Thyagarajan later.
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Chama Milind threatened to take the game away hitting a six and a four. In the penultimate over, Milind chanced upon a half-volley and tried to go over long on but was caught in the deep, ending Hyderabad’s hopes.
On a slow wicket, MP forced Hyderabad to play square of the wicket and controlled the scoring rate through spinners. Kumar Kartikeya forced Tanmay Agarwal, who added 56 runs for the second wicket with Tilak, to slog and forced him to find the fielder at the boundary.
Opening the batting, Tanmay gave Hyderabad a solid platform, starting with a drive through covers for four and a ramp six in the next over. Rohit Rayudu hooked Avesh Khan for a maximum, but perished off a top edge, attempting to play the same shot again.
After electing to bat, Madhya Pradesh opened with a new pair of Subhransu Senapati and Harsh Gawali. While Senapati was promoted from number three, Gawali played his first game of the tournament.
The pair played the ball on merit and didn’t show urgency to play aggressive strokes. It was only in the ninth over that Senapati picked Tanay Thyagarajan for two back-to-back sixes before Gawali finished the over with another maximum.
In a bid to up the ante, Senapati again tried to go over the infield against Nitin Sai Yadav but was caught. In the following over, Ajay Dev Goud had Gawali caught soon after he reached his fifty.
Batting at number three, Rajat Patidar began his innings with a cheeky boundary through fine leg. He got an inside edge for four next before hitting a single-handed six down the ground off Nitin Sai. His 16-ball 36 knock ended with a top edge that went to short third man.
On a two-paced surface, MP did well to keep the scoring rate close to nine runs an over. However, Milind got Harpreet Singh Bhatia caught and Aniket Verma bowled off successive deliveries in the 17th over.
The ball kept low at times and Venkatesh Iyer struggled to connect the ball well. He hit two fours and a six but missed out on a few slot balls during his 12-ball 22. Goud picked two wickets in the penultimate over but MP’s 178 was enough to keep Hyderabad at bay.
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