Buchi Babu Tournament: Spinners Tanay, Aniket help Hyderabad seal passage to final

C. V. Milind delivered again for Hyderabad, forging a 92-run eighth-wicket alliance with Ravi Teja to help the team set a target of 260 which proved enough.

Tanay Thyagarajan in action for Hyderabad against TNCA President XI in the Buchi Babu Tournament in Tirunelveli. | Photo Credit: SHAIKMOHIDEEN A/ The Hindu

When T. Ravi Teja danced down the track to pacer M. Mohammed off the second ball of the morning, an action-packed day beckoned.

Under hot and humid conditions on the final day of the Buchi Babu semifinal between TNCA President’s XI and Hyderabad here on Thursday, the visitor made its intentions clear by scoring 46 runs in six overs. The team declared at 273 for nine, setting the host a target of 260.

C. V. Milind (53, 88b, 4x4, 1x6) delivered again for the side, forging a 92-run eighth-wicket alliance with Ravi Teja (42, 68b, 2x4). Mohammed dismissed Milind and Ravi Teja to bag his first five-for this edition.

In a tricky chase, openers S. Radhakrishnan (40, 53b, 3x4) and Vimal Khumar were full of confidence and threatened to take the game away from Hyderabad.

Their 60-run opening stand was broken by left-arm spinner Aniket Reddy who sent back Vimal and also added the wickets of Radhakrishnan and A. Badrinath.

President’s XI slipped to 84 for four when the second left-arm spinner Tanay Thyagarajan removed Andre Siddharth, the architect of the team’s win over Gujarat in the previous match.

The drama unfolded right after the lunch break when Aniket’s loopy delivery pitched on the rough and turned square. The entire Hyderabad team jumped, screamed, and surrounded the umpire as he remained unmoved to the caught-behind appeal against K.T.A. Madhava Prasad.

Rohit Rayudu charged towards the umpire, snatched the cap from his hand, and threw it down, prompting a warning for him and the other Hyderabad players.

After all the chaos, when play resumed, Madhava Prasad and S. Rithik Easwaran stitched together a 47-run partnership for the fifth wicket before the latter, who had scored a century in the first innings, became Aniket’s fourth victim.

Once Rohit accounted for Madhava Prasad (39, 85b, 3x4) in the 48th over, Tanay spun through the lower-order to claim his second five-for, swelling his tally to a dozen in the match (seven for 95 in the first innings).

The scores:

Hyderabad 313 & 273/9 decl. in 81 overs (T. Ravi Teja 42, C. V. Milind 53, M. Mohammed 5/59) bt TNCA President’s XI 327 & 195 in 68.2 overs (S. Radhakrishnan 40, Tanay Thyagarajan 5/62, Aniket Reddy 4/59).