Ranji Trophy: Hyderabad defeats Chhattisgarh by one wicket in a thriller

It was never going to be a crescendo. Hyderabad's win against Chhattisgarh at the Gymkhana on Thursday was a slow adagio of forward defences and nudged singles, played out across 17 overs until one last, glorious note rang over long-off. The one-wicket Ranji Trophy victory was a piece composed entirely in patience.

Chhattisgarh struck at regular intervals on the final day, and with every passing hour, its belief in a second straight win swelled. More so when Hyderabad lost three wickets for 22 runs before Tea.

The equation then was simple: separate the last-wicket pair of Aniketh Reddy and Rakshann Readdi, the home side's No. 10 and No. 11 batters, and six points were Chhattisgarh's. Hyderabad, meanwhile, needed 39 runs.

Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Ajay Mandal and Jayant Yadav - who took 14 wickets in the match - hurled everything they had at the duo, but Aniketh and Rakshann refused to budge for 16.5 overs, playing 74 dot balls and collecting 25 runs in risk-free singles. Then, with victory in sight, Rakshann stepped down the track and launched the ball well over long-off, triggering ecstatic celebrations that drowned the pair.

The flowers for this win, though, should head Varun Goud's way. He walked in with the target reading 159 runs and admirably chipped away even as four wickets tumbled at the other end. He absorbed the pressure with 54 dot balls, adeptly picked gaps for three boundaries, and brought up his maiden half-century in his fifth Ranji game.

This, after Abhirath Reddy and Rahul Radesh's 89-run stand off 149 balls, which steadied a ship rocked by twin ducks before Stumps on day 3. Five batters fell for single-digit scores, yet the music never stopped, because others held the melody together. When the final bar played, Hyderabad had its third win of the season and its spot atop the Elite Group B table strengthened.