B Anirudh’s century goes in vain

Hyderabad: B. Anirudh scored an unbeaten ton and captain Himalay Agarwal scored a half-century in each innings but neither could prevent the Hyderabad President’s XI from losing to India Cements by 119 runs in the second round of the annual Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup cricket tournament, played at various grounds in the twin cities, on Tuesday.

At the Gymkhana Grounds, Anirudh’s knock anchored President’s XI’s first innings reply to India Cements’ mammoth 413 for 4. His 127 consumed  221 deliveries and contained 11 hits to the fence and four over it.

Himalay added just one run to his overnight score, getting out on 53 as his side only managed 302 for 3 in 90 overs. K. Sumanth made a useful 55 not out. India Cements declared at 159 for 4 off 29 overs, setting the hosts 271 to win, a target they fell short of by 119 despite Himalay’s fighting unbeaten 71.

Meanwhile, at the Vijayanand Gardens, Hyderabad XI drew their match with MRF, who were bowled out for 218 in their first innings. In another match, building on Hiten Dalal’s stunning first innings double century, Air India bowled brilliantly in the second to thrash Food Corporation of India by nine wickets at DMRC-1.

Air India, who had made 411 in response to FCI’s first innings total of 251, took little time in asserting their authority over their opponents in their second essay. The attack was led by off-spinner Karan Dagar, whose 5 for 81 (14-0-81-5) helped Air India dismiss FCI for just 181 runs. Air India needed just 21 runs to win, and they got there without much effort.

The only bright spot for FCI was Pulik Narang’s 6 for 156 (35-0-156-6). Elsewhere at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, the Sri Lanka developmental side drew their match against ONGC.
ONGC rode on Tanmay Srivastav’s 143, off 202 deliveries and comprising 13 boundaries, to make 358 in response to the Sri Lankans’ 251. The Lankans then scored 149 for 8 before the match was declared a draw.

Brief scores:
Day-2
n Hyderabad XI 347 in 89.4 overs drew with MRF 218 in 71.3 overs (Venugopal Rao 59, Susheel 46, Sudeep Tyagi 3/38, C.V. Milind 2/39, Mehdi Hasan 2/69, Vishal Sharma 2/32). Points: Hyderabad XI 3 , MRF 1.

Food Corporation of India 251 in 75 overs & 181 in 38.1 overs (Prashanth Chowdhary 55, Pulkit Narang 36, John Abraham 2/33, Badri Alam 2/20, Karan Dagar 5/81 — 14-0-81-5, Hiten Dalal 1/14) lost to Air India 411 in 86 overs (Hiten Dalal 213 — 225b, 4x19, 6x7, Pratyush 33, Prashanth C. 2/73, Javeed Khan 1/36, Pulkit Narang 6/156 — 35-0-156-6, Umang Sharma 1/68, Hiren Patel Singh 1/24) & 22/1 in 4.4 overs. Points: Air India 5 , FCI 0.

India Cements 413/4 in 90 overs & 159/4 decl. in 29 overs (Baba Aparajith 54, J. Koushik 65 n.o., Surya Prasad 1/20, Kaneshkk Naidu 2/33, A.M. Rajendra 1/57) bt Hyderabad President’s XI 302/3 in 90 overs (B. Anirudh 127 n.o. — 221b, 4x11 ,6x4, Himalay Agarwal 53, K. Sumanth 55 n.o., L Vignesh 1/51, Malolan Rangarajan 1/128, J. Koushik 1/20) & 151/6 in 40 overs (Himalay Agarwal 71 n.o., Rahil Shah 3/70, Malolan Rangarajan 3/78). Points: India Cements 5 , Hyderabad President’s XI 0.

Sri Lanka 249 in 77.3 overs & 149/8 in 39 overs (Kushal Mendis 58, Navdeep Saini 2/24, Mohd Saif 1/53, Milind Kumar 3/30) drew with ONGC 358 in 90 overs (Tanmay Srivastav 143 — 202b, 4x13, Nitesh Rana 71, Ankush Bains 51, Vishwa Fernando 4/99, Kasun Rajtha 1/103, Amla Aponso 3/83, Romesh Buddhika 1/24). Points: ONGC 3 , Sri Lanka 1.