The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Classy knock by Laxman

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Friday, Dec 24, 2004

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Classy knock by Laxman

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, DEC. 23. A good performance by the medium pacers and an unbeaten 59 by skipper V.V.S. Laxman put Hyderabad in the driver's seat against Punjab at close of the second day's play in the Elite Group B Ranji Trophy league match at the Gymkhana ground here on Thursday.

At close Hyderabad was leading by 275 runs with four wickets still in hand and two full days of play remaining.

When the action resumed on Thursday morning, Vishnuvardhan struck the first blow when he had Binwant Singh caught by 'keeper Khaleel.

Thereafter wickets tumbled at frequent intervals with Ankur Kakkar fighting back (48, 130 balls, 6 x 4) before being dismissed by debutant seamer Kaushik Reddy.

The Punjab innings ended at 105, just three minutes after lunch, giving a lead of 128 to the host.

In Hyderabad's second innings, the Punjab seamers worked up a good pace and the uneven bounce kept all the batsmen in guessing as they groped and fended at the ball.

But Laxman was the exception as he plundered runs at will. He delighted the spectators by slamming four perfectly timed boundaries in a row off Uniyal's 10th over to reach his half century in style.

At the other end, Vishnuvardhan hung on to support his skipper in an unbroken seventh wicket stand of 40 runs before play ended.

The scores:

Hyderabad — 1st innings: 233.

Punjab — 1st innings: Ravneet c Anirudh b N.P. Singh 2, R.S. Sodhi lbw b Vishnuvardhan 0, Binwant Singh c Khaleel b Vishnuvardhan 11, Dharmani lbw b Vishnuvardhan 3, A. Kakkar c Khaleel b Kaushik 48, Gaurav Gupta c Laxman b N.P. Singh 3, M. Sarma c Laxman b Kaushik 4, A. Uniyal b Manohar 6, Gagandeep c Laxman Manohar 0, V.R.V. Singh c Khaleel b Kaushik 12, Love Avilesh (not out) 1, Extras (b-5, lb-2, nb-8) 15, Total (all out in 51 overs): 105.

Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-2, 3-7, 4-41, 5-57, 6-66, 7-85, 8-87, 9-103.

Hyderabad bowling: N.P. Singh 17-7-27-2, Vishnuvardhan 18-9-29-3, Kaushik Reddy 12-2-29-3, Manohar 4-2-13-2.

Hyderabad — 2nd innings: Anirudh Singh c Dharmani b Uniyal 19, D. Manohar c Dharmani b Rajvir 11, Vinay Kumar c Dharmani b Gagandeep 4, A.T. Rayudu lbw b Rajvir 17, V.V.S. Laxman (batting) 59, Arjun Yadav c Binwant b Gagandeep 11, Khaleel b Uniyal 9, Vishnuvardhan (batting) 12, Extras (b-3, nb-1, w-1) 5, Total (for six wkts. in 48.2 overs) 147.

Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-31, 3-54, 4-54, 5-90, 6-107.

Punjab bowling: Gagandeep 17-4-40-2, Rajvir 12.2-2-39-2, Sodhi 8-2-18-0, Uniyal 10-0-43-2, Avilesh 1-0-4-0.

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