Calcutta: Jharkhand’s hopes of making it to the knock-out round of the Vijay Hazare Trophy suffered a massive blow when they lost to Hyderabad by 21 runs in a Group D match at the JU Salt Lake campus ground on Friday. 

The loss left them on the brink of elimination.  Jharkhand have 12 points from five matches, while Karnataka, who defeated Jammu & Kashmir in Kalyani in another match of the group, and Hyderabad have 16 each playing a match less. 
They play each other on Saturday and the winners of that game will be through. The losers and Jharkhand will then battle for the second slot where net run-rate is expected to play a big role. That of course if they record a big win against Jammu and Kashmir on Monday.  

It was an off day for Jharkhand captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who struggled in his 47-ball 28 before being bowled by left-arm spinner Mehdi Hasan in their modest 204-run chase. Coach Rajiv Kumar, however, backed Dhoni. “MS’s leadership quality is an inspiration to all of us” Rajiv said.

Dhoni talked to his teammates after the loss and the coach hoped that Jharkhand would bounce back to make the last eight. Cruising to his second century in three matches, and fourth overall in List A, Saurabh Tiwary slammed 102 from 104 balls. His knock was studded with seven sixes and five fours. Jharkhand collapsed after Saurabh holed out to Chama Milind in the 39th over. They lost six wickets for 44 runs in a stunning collapse to fold for 182 in 44.4 overs. 

Hasan claimed three wickets for 40, while Ravi Kiran, Milind and Akash Bhandari took two apiece as Hyderabad  posted their fourth win from as many matches.  

Hyderabad

T. Agarwal    c Tiwary b Jaskaran    11
P. Reddy    run out    9
K. Sumanth    c Anand b Nadeem    48
B. Sandeep    b Nadeem    43
S. Badrinath    b Nadeem    9
B. Anirudh    c Tiwary b Kaushal    26
A. Bhandari    c&b Kaushal    13
M. Hassan    not out    15
C. Milind    c Ishan b Aaron    15
M. Siraj    not out    1
Extras (lb-3, w-10)    13

Total (for 8 wickets in 50 ovs)    203
Fall of wickets: 1/18, 2/30, 3/112, 4/127, 5/135, 6/167, 7/173, 8/195
Bowling: Jaskaran 8-0-33-1, Aaron 8-0-42-1, Shukla 10-0-49-0, Anand 5-0-18-0, Kaushal 10-0-31-2, Nadeem 9-1-27-3 

Jharkhand

A. Singh    c Sumanth b Kiran    0
I. Kishan    lbw Milind    20
V. Singh    c Sumanth b Kiran    0
S. Tiwary    c Milind b Siraj    102
I. Jaggi    c Hassan b Bhandari    17
M. Dhoni    b Hassan    28
K. Singh    lbw Hassan    0
S. Nadeem    lbw Hassan    0
R. Shukla    c Sumanth b Bhandari    2
V. Aaron    not out    6
J. Singh    b Milind    2
Extras (lb-4, nb-1)    5

Total (all out in 44.4 overs)    182
Fall of wickets: 1/0, 2/0, 3/34, 4/68, 5/138, 6/138, 7/140, 8/173, 9/175
Bowling: Kiran 7-0-38-2, Milind 8.4-1-26-2, Siraj 9-0-34-1, Bhandari 10-2-28-2, Hassan 9-3-40-3, Sandeep 1-0-12-0