Hyderabad forced a thrilling tie against Karnataka in the south zone limited overs cricket tournament for the Subbaiah Pillai Trophy at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday.
Chasing a target of 248 at 4.96 runs per over, Hyderabad’s fortunes swung like a pendulum before they eventually managed to force a tie. A century partnership for the second wicket between Akshat Reddy (57) and Ravi Teja (44) saw them cruising along. But Robin Uthappa stopped them in their tracks with a superb ball as Akshat holed out to Ganesh Satish in trying to drive and soona fter, Abhinav Mithun forced an edge off Ravi to wicket-keepr Gautam. Vinay Kumar then produced a superb spell bagging the wickets of Hanuma Vihari, Rahul Singh and Habeen Ahmed.
Down in the dumps, Hyderabad stared at defeat but a hurricane knock by Ashish Reddy who remaiend not out with 51 off just 40 balls with five fours and a six, and his stand with PK Naidu who made a useful and match-saving 22, saw Hyderabad battle back to keep their heads held high.
Earlier, a 66-run partnership for the seventh wicket between Amir Verma and skipper Vinay Kumar enabled hosts Karnataka to post a fighting 248 for eight in their quota of 50 overs after being put in to bat by Hyderabad. Karnataka began on a disastrous note losing the top three wickets for 64 runs.
Verma and Vinay came together and played with cautious aggression as Amit produced a 42-ball 44 with four boundaries before being run out going for a non-existant run. Vinay produced a quickfire 47 off 50 deliveries with four fours and a six.
Tamil Nadu Win
At the Alur grounds, Andhra Pradesh were all out for 126 in 41.3 overs as tailender T Achutha Rao was the top scorer with 37 runs. VY Mahesh bagged five for 31 for TN. Tamil Nadu reached the target for the loss of just two wickets.
Brief scores:
Karnataka 248/8 (R Vinay Kumar 47, Robin Uthappa 45, Amit Verma 44) tied with Hyderabad 248/7 (Akshath Reddy 55, Ashish Reddy 51 no, DB Ravi Teja 44; R Vinay Kumar 5/42).
Andhra Pradesh 126 (T Achutha Rao 37; VY Mahesh 5/31) lost to TN 132/2 (M Vijay 50, U Susheel 61 no) by 8 wkts.