Dwaraka Ravi Teja played an innings of great substance and calibre to set the stage rolling in the South Zone leg of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. Riding the opener’s unbeaten 101, Hyderabad defeated Kerala by 34 runs. In the day’s other match, Goa stunned Tamil Nadu by seven wickets.
Chasing 180 for a win, Kerala never got going as Hyderabad bowlers led by pacer Ravi Kiran and the spin trio of Pragyan Ojha, Amol Shinde and Akash Bhandrari subdued the chase at the Y S Rajasekhar Reddy ACA-VDCA Stadium.
Kerala batsmen approached the chase in an adventurous manner, going for scoops even off deliveries that were pitched short, but never came close to connecting with a single ball. They swung and missed deliveries that should have been played in the ‘V’. Opener K J Rakesh top-scored with 48 as Ojha picked up three for 21, all coming in the final over.
Earlier, it was all about Ravi Teja. He began cautiously against the new ball in early morning conditions and went for strokes with limited risks against the pacers. For reasons best known to them, Kerala used five bowlers in the first five overs starting with pace from both ends before switching to the spinners. If their strategy was to keep the batsmen guessing, it backfired as the new-ball bowlers sprayed it all over.
The fact that Ravi Teja and Akshath Reddy went for the shots against spinners P Prashanth and Rakesh meant Kerala were pushed to the back foot. With a boundary at least in each over, Hyderabad scored 44 for one in the powerplay, with Reddy dismissed off the last ball of the sixth over.
Though the fielders raised their decibel levels, it gradually muted towards the end as the second-wicket partnership of Ravi Teja and Hanuma Vihari took charge. The duo added a breathtaking 126 runs in 81 balls with Ravi Teja playing the lead role.
Gradually raising their tempo, Hyderabad had a nice platform to build the castle at 73 for one in 10 overs. The following 10 produced 106.
Ravi Teja lofted the spinners to mid-wicket and scooped the pacers, especially Sandip Warrier to good effect. Though Prashanth kept things tidy, the rest failed to apply any pressure as Ravi Teja brought up his century of 67 balls that included 11 fours and three sixes. Vihari made 47 runs off 36 balls.
Tamil Nadu stuttered to a 7-wicket loss against Goa in the afternoon game. Winning the toss, Tamil Nadu managed 148 for six in 20 overs with Dinesh Karthik top-scoring with 35. They struggled for momentum against a disciplined attack. Boundaries were hard to come by and the batsmen threw away their wickets in search of big hits.
In reply, left-hander Sagun Kamat and Swapnil Asnodkar put on 112 in 72 balls as Goa coasted home with 13 balls to spare. Kamat was the more destructive of the two, launching a stunning assault that included seven huge sixes and five fours to finish unbeaten on 89 off 61 balls.
In the morning’s other game, Karnataka defeated Andhra by seven wickets.
