Big ton, three points: Akshath makes it count

For a 21-year-old Hyderabadi, Akshath Reddy could not possibly have picked a worse time to make his bow as a captain. After three games this season, Hyderabad were propping up the table with two points and up next were Mumbai, a difficult Ranji opponent for most teams at any rate, but for the home team, a particularly formidable one.

It took until 2006 for Hyderabad to register their first-ever Ranji win against Mumbai and until a few days ago, they hadn't a single 500-plus score against them. What was more, four seniors were sitting out and Akshath would be leading a side that had two debutants and two more were playing their first season.

To use a cliche that is a particular favourite among sportsmen, the challenge was an opportunity if nothing else, and opportunities are something Akshath —whose knock of 196 would take Hyderabad to a mammoth 699 and three points against Mumbai — isn't really acquainted with in his short career. He sat out the whole of India's under-19 World Cup campaign in New Zealand in 2010 and made the eleven only after the side was knocked out. In his first match of the tournament, a fifth spot play-off semifinal, he hit a match-winning 94 against England.

A month and a half after the World Cup, which was a disappointment for both the player and the country (India finished sixth), Akshath made his T20 debut for Hyderabad, in the quarterfinal of the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy against Mumbai. Chasing 181, Akshath cracked an unbeaten 105 off 54 balls as Hyderabad won with an over to spare. He made 33 in the semifinal but his one poor score came in the final which Hyderabad lost.

If he thought an average of 70 and a strike rate of 160 in the country's premier T20 tournament was enough to earn him an IPL contract, he would be disappointed.It was only in 2012 that he was eventually picked by Deccan Chargers and the opener made his debut at No. 7. He scored a 24 and that got him his preferred slot in his next game, where he made 42 . He played only four innings in the tournament, and didn't face a delivery in one of them.

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