Vijay Hazare Trophy: Reddy powers Hyderabad to a big win

Hyderabad picked up its second successive win downing Saurashtra by 113 runs in a Group D league match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, here at the Bengal Cricket Academy ground on Sunday.

Akshath Reddy produced the best innings of his domestic One-Day career with a fine 154 to help Hyderabad reach 312 for seven.

Hyderabad picked up its second successive win downing Saurashtra by 113 runs in a Group D league match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy, here at the Bengal Cricket Academy ground on Sunday.

Akshath Reddy produced the best innings of his domestic One-Day career with a fine 154 to help Hyderabad reach 312 for seven on deciding to bat first, in the allotted 50 overs. Saurashtra could never challenge the big score on a nice sporting track as its reply folded up at 199 with 11.1 overs still to go.

Hyderabad batting improved a lot over the performance it put up against Jammu and Kashmir in the first round of the league the previous day, when it could manage a somewhat moderate 257 (for a 29-run win) on deciding to bat first at the Jadavpur University Second Campus ground.

The decision to promote wicketkeeper-batsman Sumanth Kolla to the No. 3 spot proved good as he set up a successful partnership with Reddy for the second wicket. Hyderabad lost its other opener Tanmay Agarwal early as the batsman edged one behind to the former India left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat in the fifth over of the match.

Reddy and Kolla got down to script a 191-run partnership for the second wicket and almost ensured the match in Hyderabad’s favour with this outstanding combination. Reddy remained the more expressive of the two and maintained almost a 100 percent strike-rate to reach his century before accelerating the run making to cross the 150 mark.

His 154 (132b, 14x4, 2x6) in the end spoke about maturity and class as he pieced together his innings with the right mix of aggression and poise. Kolla, whose previous best was an unbeaten 63, also reached new mark with a patient 91 (106b, 4x4, 2x6) but was unfortunate in not reaching his first century owning to a pull in the right leg that forced him to retire hurt when the team score was 208.

Young Prerak Mankad stood out with a belligerent 104 (88b, 14x4, 1x6) in Saurashtra’s reply. But his lone crusade contrasted the lack of application in his other teammates, who returned to the pavilion without contributing much to the team score. Left arm pacer C.V. Milind picked four wickets to be the pick of Hyderabad bowlers.

Brief scores: Hyderabad 312 for seven in 50 overs (Akshath Reddy 154, Sumanth Kolla 91 (retired hurt); Kushang Patel three for 54) bt Saurashtra 199 in 38.5 overs (Prerak Mankad 104, Jaydev Shah 34; C.V. Milind four for 30).