The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Hyderabad on the verge of victory

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Wednesday, Dec 12, 2007
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Hyderabad on the verge of victory

Principal Correspondent

HYDERABAD: Arjun Yadav played yet another significant captain’s innings and in the company of southpaw Anoop Pai pushed Hyderabad to the threshold of an outright victory against Andhra on the third day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Elite Group ‘B’ match at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium (Uppal) here on Monday.

Hyderabad was struggling at 35 for four in 19 overs at one stage before Arjun and Anoop were involved in a fifth-wicket partnership of 93 runs in 208 balls to see the host finish the day at 137 for six in 59 overs, needing 18 runs for a victory.

This was after Andhra fast bowler D. Kalyankrishna bowled an impressive opening spell in which he dismissed Daniel Manohar and debutant Danny Derek Prince cheaply. At the other end, P. Vijaykumar had S.M. Shoaib caught brilliantly by wicketkeeper M.S.K. Prasad and Gnaneshwar Rao forced the dangerous-looking Ravi Teja to snick into the wicketkeeper’s hands.

Disciplined approach

Suddenly, Andhra seemed to have fought back into the game but soon found the going tough as Arjun and Anoop displayed the required discipline in their approach. The latter was content in playing a perfect second fiddle even as the captain occasionally essayed some aggressive strokes — like an imperious pull stroke for a six off Kalyankrishna and later when he stepped down to loft off-spinner Mohd. Faiq for a similar result. This was the partnership which effectively shut out Andhra’s hopes of a come-from-behind victory.

Hyderabad lost two quick wickets in fading light when Arjun (43, 174m, 114b, 5x4, 2x6) slashed left-arm spinner Shankar Rao straight to point and Anoop Pai (53, 182m, 111b, 5x4) played on to Vijaykumar.

The scores:

Andhra — 1st innings: 159.

Hyderabad — 1st innings: 132.

Andhra — 2nd innings: H. Watekar lbw b M.P. Arjun 4, L.N.P. Reddy b M.P. Arjun 9, A.S.K. Varma b M.P. Arjun 0, A.G. Pradeep b M.P. Arjun 0, G. Shankar Rao c H. Ahmed b M.P. Arjun 0, M.S.K. Prasad b M.P. Arjun 9, Y. Gnaneshwar Rao c Prince b Ashwin Yadav 61, B. Sumanth lbw b S.M. Shoaib 28, Md. Faiq c H. Ahmed b S.M. Shoaib 5, D. Kalyankrishna lbw b M.P. Arjun 1, P. Vijaykumar (not out) 2, Extras: (b-1, lb-4, nb-3): 8; Total (in 47.5 overs): 127.

Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-8, 3-8, 4-8, 5-24, 6-29, 7-91, 8-97, 9-104.

Hyderabad bowling: Shoaib 15-7-23-2, M.P. Arjun 17-5-56-7, Daniel 5-1-8-0, Ashwin 5.5-0-21-1, Ojha 4-0-13-0, Shinde 1-0-1-0.

Hyderabad — 2nd innings: S.D. Manohar lbw b D. Kalyankrishna 4, D.B. Ravi Teja c M.S.K. Prasad b Gnaneshwar Rao 23, D.D. Prince lbw b D. Kalyankrishna 0, S.M. Shoaib c M.S.K. Prasad b P. Vijaykumar 7, N. Arjun Yadav c B. Sumanth b Shankar Rao 43, S. Anoop Pai b P. Vijaykumar 53, A. Shinde (batting) 1, P. Ojha (batting) 1, Extras (b-1, w-2, nb-2): 5; Total (for six wkts. in 59 overs): 137.

Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-13, 3-35, 4-35, 5-128, 6-136.

Andhra bowling: Kalyankrishna 15-4-34-2, Vijaykumar 17-4-44-2, Shankar Rao 9-2-15-1, Gnaneshwar 8-4-12-1, Watekar 5-0-18-0, Varma 2-1-1-0, Faiq 3-0-12-0.

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