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Mumbai bundled out for 115

Principal Correspondent

Hyderabad skipper's gamble to pick three seamers pays off

HYDERABAD: Mumbai's misery continued. The Hyderabad bowlers exploited the early morning moisture and the bounce to bundle out Mumbai for 115, after asking it to bat, on the first day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Super League Group `B' match at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium (Uppal) here on Sunday.

In reply, Hyderabad was 66 for one at stumps. Hyderabad captain Anirudh Singh's gamble to have three medium-pacers — P. Kaushik Reddy, debutant M.P. Arjun and Alfred Absolom — paid off as they stuck to a wonderful line and length.

Alarming bounce

The disconcerting bounce compounded the worries of the Mumbai batsmen. With the exception of skipper Amol Mazumdar, who essayed some delectable strokes on the rise, none looked comfortable.

There were couple of decisions which did raise eyebrows in the Mumbai camp. Mazumdar stood his ground when he was forced to snick a rising ball from Absolom to wicketkeeper Ibrahim Khaleel as he felt that it was taken on the bounce. But, umpire Sanjeev Rao after consulting the square-leg umpire M.S. Mahal declared him out. Ramesh Powar was given out leg-before to Arjun, another debatable decision.

The ball of the morning session was the one from Arjun which swung back sharply from outside the leg-stump to clean up Sushant Marathe (0). Even the highly talented Rohit Sharma was done in by the Hyderabad seamers. He could not resist the temptation to poke at an away swinger from Absolom and was snared by Khaleel.

When Hyderabad came out to bat, the wicket had eased out considerably. That opener T. Suman failed to come good was his own folly as Swapnil Hazare struck the first blow. But the in-form D.B. Ravi Teja (39 batting, 97 balls, 5x4) and P. Sashank Nag (14 batting) ensured that there were no further hiccups for the host till close of play.

Earlier, Hyderabad made three changes dropping injured A.T. Rayudu for Sashank Nag, Indrasekhar Reddy for Alfred Absolom and veteran N.P. Singh for M.P. Arjun. Singh is likely to announce his retirement on Monday.

The scores: Mumbai — 1st innings: V.R. Mane c Khaleel b Kaushik Reddy 0, S. Marathe b Arjun 0, Rohit Sharma c Khaleel b Absolom 9, A. Mazumdar c Khaleel b Absolom 26, B.J. Thakkar c Sashank Nag b Arjun 21, N.S. Shetty lbw b Ojha 10, R. Powar lbw b Arjun 15, W.A. Mota (not out) 18, N.M. Kulkarni lbw b Arjun 0, K. Waingankar c Khaleel b Absolom 0, S.P. Hazare lbw b Ojha 1; Extras (b-6, lb-6, nb-3): 15; Total (in 60 overs): 115.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-0, 3-26, 4-48, 5-67, 6-87, 7-98, 8-98, 9-110.

Hyderabad bowling: Kaushik Reddy 17-10-23-1, M.P. Arjun 16-8-21-4, Alfred Absolom 15-2-38-3, Pragyan Ojha 12-5-21-2.

Hyderabad — 1st innings: T. Suman c Mota b Hazare 6, D.B. Ravi Teja (batting) 39, P. Sashank Nag (batting) 14; Extras (lb-2): 2; Total: (for one wkt. including five penalty runs, in 29 overs): 66.

Fall of wicket: 1-20.

Mumbai bowling: S.P. Hazare 7-1-19-1, K. Waingankar 7-1-23-0, Mota 3-0-4-0, Ramesh Powar 8-2-12-0, Thakkar 1-0-1-0, Nilesh Kulkarni 3-3-0-0.

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