Ranji Trophy: Hyderabad relegated to plate after crushing loss to Delhi
With the Delhi drubbing, Hyderabad ended their season with one point from seven games to be relegated to the plate division
Hyderabad: The writing was on the wall for the Hyderabad team. Having amassed just one point from six games, Hyderabad faced relegation ahead of their Delhi clash.
It was confirmed when they suffered their sixth straight loss going down to Delhi by nine wickets on the fourth day of the Group B Ranji Trophy match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad on Friday.
With the Delhi drubbing, Hyderabad ended their season with one point from seven games to be relegated to the plate division. Resuming at the overnight score of 90/5, Hyderabad were skittled out for 124 runs in 37.4 overs to set a target of 47 for Delhi.
Delhi’s Harshit Rana ripped through the hosts’ batting order scalping seven wickets for 45 runs. The visitors knocked off the total in 8.4 overs losing one wicket.
Earlier, overnight batter Shashank Lokesh was out on the fourth ball when he nicked Divij Mehra to wicketkeeper Anuj Rawat. In the next over, Rana forced T Santosh Goud to edge one to Himmat Singh at the second slip.
Rana struck twin blows in his next over. He first removed Anikethreddy, who edged the bowler to second slip, and then caught Kartikeya Kak plumb in front to reduce the hosts to 93/9.
However, the last man Praneeth Raj used his long handle to good effect slamming a 12-ball 27-run knock with the help of five boundaries and a six to take the hosts past the three-figure mark. But having slammed a six off Mehra, he holed out at the mid-off trying to repeat the stroke.
Chasing the small target, captain Yash Dhull departed trying to pull Kartikeya Kak only to sky it to wicketkeeper Rahul Radesh. But Dhruv Shorey (23 not out) and Hrithik Shokeen completed the formalities to end the match well inside the lunch session.
Brief Scores: Hyderabad 355 & 124 in 37.4 overs (Rohit Rayudu 32; Harshit Rana 7/45, Divij Mehra 3/34) lost to Delhi 433 & 47/1 in 8.4 overs.
