Hyderabad suffered second straight defeat in the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day cricket championship when it lost to Gujarat by 12 runs in the league phase at Kholvad Gymkhana Ground here on Friday.
Chasing a modest target of 223, Hyderabad faltered losing wickets at regular intervals once in-form opener Thakur Tilak Varma (0) was dismissed by left-arm medium-pacer Arzan Nagwaswalla in the second over.
Partial recovery
Soon, Himalay Agarwal (16) perished and though a third-wicket stand of 67 between captain and southpaw Tanmay Agarwal (54, 76b, 6x4) and wicketkeeper-batsman Prateek Reddy (38, 49b, 4x4 1x6) raised hopes of a probable win, they were dashed in the face of accurate bowling by Gujarat, with Nagwaswalla returning a three-wicket haul even as experienced campaigner B. Sandeep played a breezy knock (54, 42b, 5x4, 2x6).
Left-arm spinner Hardik Patel, offie Karan Patel and medium-pacer Ripak Patel claimed two wickets apiece to ensure Hyderabad was not in the game when the chase was on. Surprisingly, leg-spinner Piyush Chawla (9-0-52-1) was the most expensive bowler.
Earlier, Gujarat, put in to bat, scored 222 for nine in 50 overs, thanks primarily to contributions from Het Patel (67, 81b, 8x4, 1x6) and Karan (78, 85b, 5x4, 3x6).
Gujarat struggled from the start once left-arm pacer Chama Milind struck the first blow in the fifth over forcing opener Dhruv Raval (3) to nick to wicketkeeper Prateek Reddy. There were no real big partnerships to swell the total to challenging proportions.
The pick of the Hyderabad bowlers was Ravi Teja, who finished with four wickets. Milind also bowled well to pick up two.
