Mumbai beats Hyderabad, seals spot in the knockouts

The surety of defeat can sometimes liberate. Hyderabad, inches away from its second loss of the ongoing Ranji Trophy campaign, showed admirable resolve to make Mumbai work for victory on the final day of their clash at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Sunday.

Asked to follow on and trailing by 127 runs with only three wickets in hand, Mumbai would have liked to quickly seal an innings victory. Instead, positive intent from Hyderabad’s lower-order ensured the host went down fighting and with far greater respectability.

C.V. Milind enjoyed an early slice of fortune when a top-edge landed safely in no-man’s land. He then tore into the Mumbai attack, most notably a thumping straight hit off Mohit Avasthi drawing whistles from a sparse crowd largely made up of youngsters from a local academy, en route to a well-crafted half century (85, 63b, 8×4, 1×6).

His 69-run stand with Nitin Sai Yadav, Hyderabad’s second-best partnership of the match, was finally broken by Musheer Khan, with Suved Parkar pouching a straightforward chance at forward short-leg.

Mohammed Siraj then picked up where Nitin left off, adding 50 runs from just 43 balls with Milind. Siraj’s bravado even helped Hyderabad take the lead for the first time in this match. But Onkar Tarmale eventually prevailed, sending Siraj’s middle-stump cartwheeling.

Eyeing an unlikely century, Milind began targeting almost every delivery, but Musheer Khan stood in the way.

With Mumbai chasing 10 runs for a win, lunch was delayed to facilitate a result. Akhil Herwadkar cut Nitin to the boundary off the very first ball. He then charged down the track but was beaten by the turn, Rahul Radesh effecting a lightning-quick stumping.

The momentary hiccup proved inconsequential. Mumbai wrapped up a nine-wicket victory a little over two overs later, and in doing so, also sealed its place in the knockouts.

The scores:

Mumbai – 1st innings: 560.

Hyderabad – 1st innings: 267.

Hyderabad – 2nd innings: Aman Rao b Onkar 13, Abhirath Reddy b Musheer 20, Rahul Singh c Sarfaraz b Musheer 33, Rohit Rayudu c Akhil b Mohit 7, K. Himateja c Akash b Mohit 43,Rahul Radesh c & b Mohit 2, P. Nitish Reddy c Mohit b Musheer 0, C.V. Milind c Himanshu b Musheer 85, Nitin Sai Yadav c Suved b Musheer 32, Mohammed Siraj b Onkar 32, Rakshann Readdi (not out) 0; Extras (nb-3, b-13, lb-17, w-2): 35; Total (in 69.5 overs): 302.

Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-70, 3-73, 4-102, 5-106, 6-111, 7-166, 8-235, 9-296.

Mumbai bowling: Tushar 11-1-39-0, Onkar 11-1-48-2, Mohit 9-2-47-3, Himanshu 13-1-49-0, Musheer 22.5-4-79-5, Akhil 3-0-10-0.

Mumbai – 2nd innings: Akhil Herwardkar st Rahul Radesh b Nitin 4, Akash Anand (not out) 5, Himanshu Singh (not out) 1;Extras (b-2): 2; Total (for one wkt. in 3.2 overs): 12.

Fall of wicket: 1-4.

Hyderabad bowling: Nitin 2-0-6-1, Himateja 1.2-1-4-0.