Dubey overpowers Siraj after Hyderabad stifle Vidarbha on opening day of their ranji trophy match
By Paritosh Pramanik ;
ALL-ROUNDER Harsh Dubey lit up what could have been a forgettable day for Vidarbha with a flurry of sixes and fours off India pacer Mohd Siraj as the hosts managed to post 190 in their first innings against Hyderabad in their last Ranji Trophy Group B match at VCA Civil Lines on Thursday.
In return, Hyderabad were 90 for two with Tanmay Agarwal (53*) and K Himateja (5) at the crease. Hyderabad still trail by 100 runs.
Agarwal continued his purple run in the competition completing his third half century with a boundary. The left-handed batter looked in complete ease negotiating Vidarbha pacers Yash Thakur and Aditya Thakare as well as spinners, Harsh Dubey and Akshay Wakhare.
However, the day belonged to Dubey (65) who walked in to bat when Vidarbha were reeling at 80 for six immediately after lunch.
And the southpaw took Hyderabad bowlers to cleaners completing his fifty in 41 deliveries, stitched with six fours and two sixes.
A sizable crowd walked into the stadium in anticipation that Siraj would fire in some lethal deliveries. He did. But the fans were entertained by Dubey who hit the premier India bowler for a four and three sixes. Dubey, who had hit a whirlwind 63 in Vijay Hazare final against Karnataka earlier this month, pulled Siraj with ease for a couple of sixes and even hit him straight over long on fence too. Siraj tried to intimidate Dubey with bouncers but to no avail. The Vidarbha batter faced 17 Siraj deliveries and collected 27 runs from it which had nine dot balls.
Dubey’s entertaining innings finally came to an end when he tried to clear the fine leg fence off a Siraj’s bouncer with an upper cut shot only to be caught brilliantly by a diving K Himateja.
But by that time Vidarbha were in a safe corridors with the scoreboard reading 177 for nine.
Dubey and seamer Yash Thakur added 56 runs for ninth wicket in which Dubey’s share was of 48 runs.
Earlier, Hyderabad pacers wreaked havoc as they took lunch with five Vidarbha wickets for 76 runs. They bowled precisely and were disciplined in their line and length. Vidarbha had worst start to the day when they lost three wickets in the first hour itself. Dhruv Shorey got out for the first duck of the season and Atharva Taide’s (7) poor run with the bat continued.
There were high hopes from in-form batter Karun Nair (3) but he too perished early. Danish Malewar (13) hit a boundary with a pull shot but the very next delivery edged one to Rahul Buddhi at first slip. Debutant Parth Rekhade (23), steadied Vidarbha’s fall with a few boundaries initially to ease the pressure but gifted his wicket to Aniketh Reddy. At lunch, Vidarbha were 76-5.
The fortunes after lunch did not change as Vidarbha lost Rathod trapped in front exposing Vidarbha’s tail. But Dubey was in no mood to surrender and took the mantle to take Vidarbha’s score past 150-run mark.
For Hyderabad, Siraj bowled tirelessly for 18 overs for the only wicket of Dubey. Captain Chama Milind was responsible for the wickets of both the openers -- Taide and Shorey. Rakshann Readdi and Aniketh Reddy were the other wicket takers for the visiting team.