Hyderabad advanced to the semifinals of the KSCA Diamond Jubilee tournament for the Coromandel Cement Trophy beating India Cements by four wickets at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore today. The match was put off by a day as a mark of respect to S Nijalingappa, former Chief Minister of Karnataka who died on Tuesday. Rain once again cast its shadow over the match after India Cements were dismissed for 182 from the penultimate ball of the 50th over. The revised target for Hyderabad was 146 from 40 overs and they were home with nine balls to spare.

Hyderabad won the toss and invited their opponents to pad up. India Cements struggled at the beginning as Hyderabad seam bowler Mohiudeen (3/39) grabbed three quick wickets. Their best batsman Sridharan Sharath fell for 12 to leave them in dire straits at 38/4. When the seventh wicket fell at 90 in the 31st over it looked as though the innings would be wrapped up soon. But Sadashiva Iyer and MR Shrinivas put up some stubborn resistance in a seventh wicket stand of 75 which helped them reach a position of some respectability. Wicketkeeper Iyer finished unbeaten on 61 off 102 balls without a single boundary which showed how difficult the going had been.

All the Hyderabad batsmen chipped in with the top score being Anirudh Singh's 26. Shivaji Yadav (18 not out) and Santosh Yadav (21) added 41 for the sixth wicket to take Hyderabad to the doorstep of victory before the latter was out with just one run needed. Test left arm spinner Murali Karthik and MR Shrinivas took two wickets apiece for the losers.

In the three day semifinals beginning August 11, Hyderabad take on Chemplast at the RSI Sports Ground while India Pistons play Indian Airlines at the Chinnaswamy stadium.

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