The Hindu : Rayudu stands tall amid ruins

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 15, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

Rayudu stands tall amid ruins

By Our Special Correspondent

Hyderabad's Ambati Rayudu lifts Nilesh Kulkarni of Mumbai for a six.

MUMBAI, MARCH 14. Mumbai took command of the Ranji Trophy semifinal against Hyderabad, but a young turk from the rival camp put up a lion-hearted display at a venue where countless budding batsmen took giant steps forward. A majority of them donned the India cap and there is no reason why Ambati Rayudu should not follow suit after standing tall amid ruins the Hyderabad innings resembled on the opening day, shot out as they were for 166.

Mumbai was 84 without loss with Vinayak Mane and Wasim Jaffer looking good after Hyderabad was shot out 22 minutes before tea with Mumbai captain, Sairaj Bahutule, being the pick of the hosts' bowling, claiming four for 42.

The India under-19 captain is easily the most gifted batsman of the new millennium. Sensational hitting and fabulous scores against English bowlers his age two summers ago in England heralded a new star on the Indian cricket horizon. He has made headway since, but it was for the first time in Mumbai, in a first-class match, that he gave a terrific exhibition of batting.

Rayudu's individual brilliance when the chips were down for Hyderabad was the highlight on the first day of the contest at the Wankhede Stadium. For three and half hours, the dapper right-hander, resembled Little Master Gundappa Viswanath of the yore. Rayudu's dazzling strokeplay all round the wicket, facing sustained spells of seam and spin bowling, came as a pleasant relief for his teammates in the dressing room and for a few hundred spectators.

Rayudu was also up to the challenge posed by Mumbai's Munaf Patel. The tall seamer, cautioned at both ends for running on to the danger area, bowled an excellent opening spell and removed Hyderabad's top three batsmen an hour into the morning session. Unfazed by the scoreboard reading 34 for three, he waded into the Mumbai attack, dancing down the pitch, leaning into his cover drives and gave full vent to his wristy batsmanship.

Bahutule adopted negative tactics, bowling round the wicket and well outside the leg stump to subdue the right-hander. The surface aided turn, but Rayudu was up to the task, using his pads skilfully. By coming down the pitch Rayudu had earlier hoisted four clean shots over cover and the straight field, and sent left-arm spinner Nilesh Kulkarni out of the attack. He struck 16 boundaries, including a big one that went off the hands of Vinod Kambli at long-on.

The pick of his shots were two flicked on-drives off Patel and a hit straight down the ground off Avishkar Salvi. But running out of partners when on 95, he drove Kulkarni into the hands of Manoj Joglekar at deep cover.

When it was Mumbai's turn to bat, Mane struck Narendra Pal Singh for an on-drive and two off-drives. All the three shots raced to the fence as the home team, following a fine performance by its bowlers, tightened its grip. Raju and company has a task on hand on the second day.

Hyderabad — 1st innings: D. Manohar b Patel 13, A. Shetty b Patel 15, D. Vinay Kumar c Mane b Patel 0, A. T. Rayudu c Joglekar b Kulkarni 95, Anirudh Singh c Joglekar b Bahutule 17, I. Khaleel c Kambli b Bahutule 9, Faiz Ahmed c Joglekar b Bahutule 1, Shivaji Yadav c & b Kulkarni 1, S. Vishnuvardhan c Salvi b Bahutule 6, N. P. Singh (run out) 1, S. Venkatapathy Raju (not out) 0; Extras (lb-2, nb-4, w-2) 8; Total (in 59 overs) 166.

Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-16, 3-34, 4-94, 5-126, 6-134, 7-138, 8-159, 9-166

Mumbai bowling: A. Salvi 14-6-23-0, M. Patel 11-2-40-3, N. Kulkarni 14-2-45-2, Thakkar 4-1-14-0, S. Bahutule 16-4-42-4.

Mumbai — 1st innings: V. Mane (batting) 42, W. Jaffer (batting) 33; Extras (lb-2, nb-7) 9; Total (for no loss in 31 overs) 84.

Hyderabad bowling: N. P. Singh 6-1-26-0, Vishnuvardhan 5-1-6-0, Faiz Ahmed 2-0-13-0, Raju 10-2-18-0, Shivaji Yadav 8-0-19-0.

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