Hyderabad players stand good chance in IPL auction
Hyderabad: Hyderabad may have lost to Tamil Nadu in the semifinals but their splendid run in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament gladdened the hearts of the cricket aficionados in the city. Their incredible streak, five wins from Elite Group E and the quarterfinal victory over Gujarat, raised hopes of restoring Hyderabad’s past glory. It […]
Hyderabad: Hyderabad may have lost to Tamil Nadu in the semifinals but their splendid run in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament gladdened the hearts of the cricket aficionados in the city. Their incredible streak, five wins from Elite Group E and the quarterfinal victory over Gujarat, raised hopes of restoring Hyderabad’s past glory.
It is unfortunate that Hyderabad’s semifinal was scheduled for morning 8.30 am start where toss was to play a crucial role. The team winning the toss would straightaway have the advantage of the morning moisture as there would be plenty of help for the bowlers. It is not clear why the BCCI chose to start the match so early and instead of an afternoon start where the conditions would be ideal for the batters and the bowlers. Hopefully this anomaly would be rectified by the BCCI next time around.
But Hyderabad batters were also to be blamed. Agreed there was plenty of moisture but they failed to apply themselves to stay at the wicket and they dug their own grave with atrocious shot selection. As a result all the hard work went down the drain. The players showed a lot of character till the semifinal loss. Nevertheless, the performances of few players would certainly come into notice of the IPL franchises and could be in the auctions list next year. G Hanuma Vihari and pacer Mohd Siraj left in the middle of the tournament on India assignments.
Though disappointed with the semifinal defeat, coach Milap Mewada said it would be a big morale boost for the next two tournaments – Vijay Hazare one day and Ranji Trophy.
“There are plenty of positives from the tournament. The boys played some amazing cricket till the semifinals. It is a young team and they are on a learning curve,” said Mewada, who took over reins as coach of the Hyderabad team this season.
But skipper Tanmay Agarwal and left-arm seamer CV Milind ended the tournament as tournament’s highest run-getter (334 runs) and wicket-taker (18 wickets) respectively. Left-handed opener Agarwal was a picture of confidence and accumulated runs in a very methodical fashion. So was young Tilak Varma. This left-hander definitely caught the attention with his free flowing stroke play. Even, Buddhi Rahul, also a left-hander, showcased his talent with some sensible and big-hitting in the death overs. However, they need to know the importance of a big match. They could have done a world of good if they had come with a match-winning show with the willow in the semifinals. It was a disappointing end. The experienced B Sandeep had a good chance like what Shahrukh Khan did for TN in the finals against Karnataka. He fell to a horrendous shot.
Players like Milind and Tanay Thyagarajan showed their mettle as all-rounders. They scored vital runs and even bowled splendidly. Bowling with good pace and a lot of variation, Milind had two five-wicket hauls. Thyagarajan caught the eye with his left-arm spin in the middle overs. Even pace bowlers like Ctl Rakshann and T Ravi Teja looked good. Strangely, bowling all-rounder Ajay Dev Goud, who played for India under-19 team, never got a single match.
Hyderabad Cricket Association president Mohammed Azharuddin credited the team’s success because of its robust selection policy but a few players got to play despite repeated failures with the bat.
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