Hyderabad halt Vidarbha’s dream run

Jaipur: It took bad weather and some excellent batting by Hyderabad left-handed duo -- Tanmay Agarwal and Rahul Singh Gahlaut -- to stop Vidarbha’s five-match winning streak in the Vijay Hazare Trophy at the SMS Stadium here on Sunday.After being unbeaten in Group B so far, Vidarbha suffered a 30-run defeat against Hyderabad by VJD Method in their penultimate league outing.A brilliant century by Karun Nair and Dhruv Shorey’s splendid 83-run knock went in vain as bad light and slight drizzle forced umpires to call off the match when Hyderabad were 159 for 1 after 29 overs while chasing a daunting target of 287.Put into bat on a chilled morning, Vidarbha openers Atharva Taide (44: 54b, 7x4) and Dhruv Shorey (83: 99b, 7x4) gave their team a solid start by putting on 91 for the opening wicket.After a rare cheap dismissal of Aman Mokhade (5), Nair joined Shorey and consolidated the innings with an 89-run stand for the third wicket.As the wickets were falling at the other end, Nair, a former Karnataka batter, could not accelerate his innings towards the end. With Hyderabad operating four spinners, Nair was forced to build innings mostly in singles and doubles. The experienced batter remained undefeated on 102 off 98 balls, studded with eight fours and two sixes.Hyderabad did not get the best of starts while chasing a challenging Vidarbha score of 286 for 8. Umesh Yadav removed opener K Rohit Rayudu (8) in his fourth over.However, that was the only success Vidarbha bowlers had in the entire day as Agarwal and Gahlaut batted solidly under dim light. With light not improving coupled with a drizzle, umpires ‘offered light’ to Hyderabad, who gladly accepted it as they knew they were ahead of Vidarbha having lost just a solitary wicket.Agarwal remained unbeaten on run-a-ball 77. The diminutive opener slammed seven boundaries and a couple of towering sixes over the mid-wicket fence. Skipper Rahul Singh Gahlaut provided perfect support with 62 not out off 80 balls. Leading from the front, Gahlaut struck four boundaries and two sixes.Vidarbha will clash with Services in their seventh and last league match on Tuesday.In other matches in Jaipur on Sunday, Jharkhand thumped Services by 8 wickets at Dr Soni Stadium, Maharashtra defeated Chhattisgarh at Jaipuriya Vidyalaya ground, while Meghalaya got the better of Manipur by 33 runs (by VJD method) at the KL Saini Stadium.Brief Scores: Vidarbha 286/8 in 50 overs (Karun Nair 102 not out, Dhruv Shorey 83, Atharva Taide 44, Shubham Dubey 20; Nitin Sai Yadav 2-52, Kartikeya Kak 2-52) lost to Hyderabad 159/1 in 29 overs (Tanmay Agarwal 77 not out, Rahul Singh Gahlaut 62 not out; Umesh Yadav 1-22) by 30 runs (VJD Method).