Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025-26: Dhruv Shorey sets up Vidarbha’s comfortable 89-run win over Hyderabad

Dhruv Shorey’s second century on the trot helped Vidarbha overcome Hyderabad by 89 runs in its Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025 Group B encounter at the Sanosara Cricket Ground ‘B’ here on Friday.

Shorey (109 n.o., 77b, 9×4, 6×6) paced his innings to perfection, taking time to dig his feet in before accelerating in the death to guide Vidarbha to 365 for five in 50 overs after being asked to bat. A concerted bowling effort, led by captain Harsh Dubey’s three-fer, helped bowl Hyderabad out for 276 in the last over.

The platform was set by openers Aman Mokhade (82, 78b, 7×4, 3×6) and Yash Rathod (68, 82b, 6×4), who played out the initial few overs carefully on a pitch with good bounce and carry. The tight lines employed by the Hyderabad pacers made it difficult for them to open their arms. A flurry of boundaries in the 10th over against B. Punnaiah brought the run rate back up.

With the field spreading on the onset of spin, the two batters jogged their way to a century partnership within 17 overs. Nitin Yadav broke the 148-run association, forcing Mokhade to hole out to deep cover. Rathod perished five overs later, failing to connect with an expansive drive, seeing his stumps knocked back.

Hyderabad fought back with a few miserly overs against Shorey and R. Samarth (63, 46b, 6×4, 1×6). However, four boundaries conceded due to misfields and one due to an overthrow after a ricochet at the non-striker’s end helped Vidarbha get easy runs.

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Shorey brought out the slog sweep to pick boundaries against spin, but the innings truly gathered steam in the back end with the return of pace. Shorey and Samarth were adept at putting away the short, slower balls to the fence in their 140-run stand in just 95 balls. Shorey brought up his three figures in just 73 balls with a lofted six down the ground. Harsh and Nachiket Bhute connected a few lusty blows at the death to take the team past 350.

In reply, Hyderabad started bright, ensuring it remains above run-a-ball from the get-go. Despite losing opener Tanmay Agarwal for 21, the team managed to keep the runs ticking at a fair clip. Abhirath Reddy (43, 44b, 8×4) made use of the field restrictions in the first PowerPlay, finding gaps with his controlled pull shots. His downfall came after the introduction of spin, left-armer Harsh beating his defence as he looked to push off the back foot.

Skipper Harsh was pragmatic in his bowling changes, switching between his spin options based on the matchup at hand. Rahul Singh Gahlaut twice got a reprieve in the deep but eventually holed out against Yash Thakur’s bouncer barrage in the middle overs. Varun Goud (85, 68b, 4×4, 4×6) held fort at one end before being stumped while looking to throw the kitchen sink.

For the second match in a row, the lower order failed to stitch up any sizeable partnership, although the writing was well on the wall by then.

Published on Dec 26, 2025