Vijay Hazare Trophy | Aman’s delights with a blistering, unbeaten double ton

Aman Rao converted his maiden List-A hundred into an unbeaten double ton to spur Hyderabad to a dominant 107-run win over Bengal in the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2025 Group B encounter at the Niranjan Shah Stadium here on Tuesday.

The 21-year-old wrote himself into the history books (200 n.o., 154b, 12×4, 13×6) in just his third senior 50-over appearance, annihilating Mohammed Azharuddin’s record for the highest List-A score by a Hyderabad batter — 161 not out vs Goa in the 1994/95 season. Mohammed Siraj registered a four-wicket haul to help curtail Bengal’s chase of the 353-run target at 245.

Century partnership

After being asked to bat, Hyderabad started briskly courtesy Rahul Singh Gahlaut’s take down of the full balls against pace. With his senior pro taking the bowling on, Aman took his time to get his feet in, contributing just 33 in the 100-run opening partnership that came in the 15th over.

The drinks break brought about the first wicket. Gahlaut holed out at deep-midwicket with a frustrated slog-sweep against leg-spinner Rohit Kumar after being bogged down by consecutive dot balls. Aman and skipper Tilak Varma took their time against the two-pronged spin attack before the drinks break claimed another victim. Tilak perished a ball after the second recess, finding long-on with his lofted attempt down the ground against Shahbaz Ahmed.

Then began the onslaught from Aman. He brought up his century off 108 balls, featuring just nine fours and three sixes, before unleashing hellfire. The opening batter punished any misgivings in length from the experienced Bengal pacers, plundering ten more maximums. A six off the last ball of the innings over long-on fetched him his double ton and helped Hyderabad register 352 in its batting essay.

Bengal’s pursuit of the mammoth target got off to a grim start when Siraj ran through the top order with his opening burst. Veteran Anustup Majumdar (59, 72b, 4×4, 1×6) and Shahbaz (108 n.o., 113b, 9×4, 4×6) ensured the team didn’t stumble to a tame surrender with a 97-run association. Shahbaz persevered to aggregate three figures for the fourth time in the 50-over format, but the target was well beyond reach by then.

The scores (Group B): Hyderabad 352/5 in 50 overs (Aman Rao 200 n.o., Rahul Singh Gahlaut 65) bt Bengal 245 in 44.4 overs (Anustup Majumdar 59, Shahbaz Ahmed 108 n.o., Mohammed Siraj 4/58).

Uttar Pradesh 339/5 in 50 overs (Abhishek Goswami 103, Dhruv Jurel 56, Priyam Garg 67, Rinku Singh 57) bt Vidarbha 285/9 in 50 overs (Aman Mokhade 147, Akshay Wadkar 51 n.o.).

Baroda 332 in 50 overs (Priyanshu Moliya 114, Vishnu Solanki 132, Auqib Nabi 4/52) bt Jammu and Kashmir 256 all out in 45.3 overs (Dikshant Kundal 66, Kawalpreet Singh 65, Sahil Lotra 42).

Assam 284/7 in 50 overs (Saurav Dihingia 61, Sumit Ghadigaonkar 51, Sibsankar Roy 106 n.o.) lost to Chandigarh 286/3 in 47.2 overs (Manan Vohra 102, Arjun Azad 140).