Vijay Hazare Trophy: Rohit, Tilak centuries win it for Hyderabad

Opener K Rohit Rayudu and in-form batter Thakur Tilak Varma slammed centuries as Hyderabad clinched a high-scoring contest

Hyderabad: Opener K Rohit Rayudu and in-form batter Thakur Tilak Varma slammed centuries as Hyderabad clinched a high-scoring contest defeating Himachal Pradesh by 17 runs by VJD method to begin their Vijay Hazare campaign with a victory, at the Airforce Complex Ground, Palam on Saturday.

Asked to bat first, Hyderabad posted a massive 360/3 in 50 overs with the help of Rohit Rayudu’s 144-ball 156 and Tilak Varma’s unbeaten 106-ball 132. Later, Himachal Pradesh scored 335/9 in 48 overs. AR Kumar scored 103 but his team fell short of the target. For Hyderabad, E Sanketh scalped three wickets while G Aniketh Reddy took two. B Punnaiah, Tanay Thyagarajan and Rohit Rayudu scalped a wicket each.

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Earlier, Hyderabad lost captain Tanmay Agarwal cheaply (9) in the innings 10th over. However, Rohit and Tilak Varma added 223 runs for the second wicket to put their side on course for a big score. Rohit Rayudu hit 12 boundaries and eight over them while Tilak Varma smashed 10 boundaries and three sixes. After Rohit’s departure, Buddhi Raul scored an unbeaten 14-ball 35 with the help of three sixes and two fours to provide the impetus.

Chasing the big total, Himachal Pradesh lost opener SG Arora in the sixth over when he was cleaned up by Aniketh Reddy. A 102-run stand between PS Chopra (70) and AR Kumar (103) put their chase back on track. However, with required run rate mounting, Himachal Pradesh batters went for big runs losing wickets towards the end.