Vidarbha annihilate Hyderabad, enter Ranji Trophy knock-outs in style

Nagpur: In the end, 220 proved enough for bowlers to script Vidarbha's sixth win of the league phase. Harsh Dubey exploited the Day 4 pitch to the hilt to bundle out Hyderabad for 161 as Vidarbha posted a 58-run win in their last league match of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group ‘B' on Sunday.

The Hyderabad innings ended swiftly with the visitors being bundled out before lunch on the last day. The attacking approach adopted by Hyderabad worked in favour of left-arm spinner Dubey and Vidarbha.

Dubey, knowing the pitch at the VCA Civil Lines Stadium like the back of his hand, relished the prospect of batters going after him and playing risky shots.

"I was just bowling a wicket-to-wicket line and varying my pace. The wicket did the rest. We never thought that the match would be over by lunch," Dubey said after snapping up his sixth five-wicket haul of the season. The 22-year-old is now the leading wicket-taker of the Ranji Trophy this year with 55 scalps from 7 matches at an average of 14.50.

Hyderabad's attacking tactics left Dubey surprised too. "We expected them to show a bit of resilience and play out at least one session to take it a bit closer. They adopted an attacking approach. There is always a chance of wickets falling when a team wants to be aggressive," he said.

Needing 197 runs with nine wickets in hand, Hyderabad lost overnight unbeaten batter Tanay Thyagarajan (18;21b;3x4) in the second over of the day with medium pacer Aditya Thakare doing the damage.

Abhirath Reddy and wicketkeeper batter Rahul Radesh kept the Vidarbha bowlers at bay for the next 9.5 overs. After the pair had added 25 runs, Dubey sent back Reddy (21;38b;3x4) to trigger the Hyderabad collapse.

In his next over, Dubey accounted for Kodimela Himateja (0;4b) to reduce Hyderabad to 67 for 4 in 19.4 overs. Soon, Parth Rekhade, Vidarbha's other left-arm spinner, joined the party. After removing Varun Goud, Rekhade ended the resistance put up by Radesh (48;77b;4x4;1x6) in the 31st over with the scoreboard reading 116 for 7.

From there, it didn't take long for Dubey to wipe out the Hyderabad tail and post his six-wicket haul. Having topped the Group 'B', Vidarbha will play the quarterfinal, against Tamil Nadu from Feb 8, at home.

BRIEF SCORES

Vidarbha: 190 & 355 beat Hyderabad: 326 all out & (overnight 23 for 1) 161 all out in 38.5 overs (Rahul Radesh 48, Mohammed Siraj 26, Abhirath Reddy 21; Harsh Dubey 6-57, Parth Rekhade 2-33, Yash Thakur 1-26, Aditya Thakare 1-27) by 58 runs.