Two-time champion Vidarbha thwarted a valiant bid by Hyderabad to record an outright win to stay in the Elite Group of the Ranji Trophy at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Saturday.
Hyderabad badly needed a victory on the final day to avoid the ignominy of being relegated to Group-C. It resumed at 139 for seven, having conceded a first innings lead of 61 runs. Eventually, it had to settle for a draw and one point to be out of the Elite Group.
The morning session clearly belonged to the home team.
First, tailender Mohd. Siraj played a cameo (46, 27b, 2x4, 6x6) and wicketkeeper-batsman K. Sumanth continued his impressive run with the bat this season to remain unbeaten on 65 (123b, 6x4, 1x6). Left-arm spinner Aditya Sarvate completed a splendid seven-wicket haul for Vidarbha, claiming all the three wickets to fall in the morning.
The heroics of Siraj and Sumanth ensured that Hyderabad finished on 244 and set a victory target of 184 for Vidarbha.
The home team had every reason to hope for an improbable win when pacer Siraj forced first-innings centurion and Vidarbha captain Faiz Fazal to snick an away-going delivery straight to the slips.
Then, Ravi Kiran cleaned up Aniruddha Choudhari with a beauty to leave the visitor in serious trouble at 12 for two.
Ganesh Satish, the leading run-getter for Vidarbha, joined Akshay Kholkar and put on a crucial 45-run stand for the third wicket before he was trapped leg before by left-arm pacer Chama Milind.
Stubborn pair
At 52 for three, Hyderabad was still nursing hopes of a comeback win but it ran into the stubborn duo of the Satish and Siddesh Wath, who put an unbroken 64 for the fourth wicket.
Vidarbha opted to call off play with the score reading 116 for three, eight overs after tea, when everyone thought it would go for an outright win with two well-set batsmen at the crease.
With this drawn, Hyderabad was relegated again from the Elite Group after seven years. It finished the league at the bottom with seven points from eight games including one win, one draw and six losses.
Vidarbha finished seventh with 21 points from eight games including two wins, two losses and four draws, but failed to make it to the knock-out phase.
The scores:
Hyderabad — 1st innings: 272.
Vidarbha — 1st innings: 333.
Hyderabad — 2nd innings: Tanmay Agarwal b Sarwate 8, Akshath Reddy b Thakare 9, Rahul Buddhi c Choudhari b Sarwate 39, T. Ravi Teja c Wath b Sarwate 4, A. Prateek Reddy c Thakur b Wakhare 26, K. Sumanth (not out) 65, Chama Milind b Sarwate 2, Mehdi Hassan lbw b Wakhare 24, G. Aniketh Reddy b Sarwate 1, Mohd. Siraj c Satish b Sarwate 46, M. Ravi Kiran b Sarwate 19; Extras (b-1): 1; Total (in 75.3 overs): 244.
Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-32, 3-42, 4-87, 5-87, 6-89, 7-132, 8-141, 9-197.
Vidarbha bowling: Gurbani 4-0-21-0, Thakare 9-2-19-1, Sarwate 32.3-5-121-7, Wakhare 24-5-70-2, Thakur 5-0-11-0, Choudhari 1-0-1-0.
Vidarbha — 2nd innings: Faiz Fazal c Aniketh b Siraj 6, Akshay Kolhar lbw b Milind 26, Aniruddha Choudhari b Ravi Kiran 0, Ganesh Satish (not out) 47, Siddhesh Wath (not out) 33; Extras (b-4): 4; Total (for three wkts. in 46 overs): 116.
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-7, 3-52.
Hyderabad bowling: Siraj 10-1-37-1, Ravi Kiran 10-3-22-1, Aniketh 12-3-23-0, Milind 8-1-22-1, Hassan 6-1-8-0.
Result: Match drawn.
