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Williams leads from the front

Principal Correspondent

— Photo: Mohammed Yousuf

GOOD WORK: Hyderabad’s Mohd. Shakeer takes a brilliant catch to get rid of Rakesh Solanki of Baroda.

HYDERABAD: Connor Williams led from the front to ensure Baroda achieve its first objective of taking the first innings lead, and stay on course for an outright win.

Baroda also struck an early blow to leave Hyderabad struggling at 40 for one at close on the third day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Super League at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Sunday.

Resuming at 191 for two, Williams (153, 329 balls, 11x4, 1x 6) and the free-stroking Rakesh Solanki (78, 157 balls, 7x4, 1x5) were rarely tested by the Hyderabad bowlers.

Once Baroda took the lead in the 97th over, the bowlers seemed to be playing for a lost cause. The dominance of Williams and Solanki, who put on 136 for the third wicket in 268 balls, pushed Hyderabad back to the wall.

Baroda lost its last seven wickets only after the lead was clinched, when the batsmen went after the bowling to build up a sizeable lead quickly. Even the dismissal of Williams in the first over after lunch when his intended on-drive off spinner Lalit Mohan ended up in a catch to mid-on, did not see any change in the Hyderabad tempo.

Lethargic fielding

Hyderabad’s fielding was lethargic, particularly in the deep. Shoaib and Ashwin Yadav dropped a catch each when Baroda was on the offensive. However, the exception was a brilliant reflex catch to his left at short mid-off by Shakeer saw the exit of a well-set Solanki off Aswin Yadav to make the score 354 for five.

And Hyderabad hopes of containing the lead were dashed by the enterprising Penil Shah (68, 84 balls, 5 x 4, 1 x 6), who relied heavily on the sweep.

Lalit Mohan made amends later in the day to complete a four-wicket haul but by then Baroda had taken a convincing 215-run lead.

The scores:

Hyderabad — 1st innings: 261

Baroda — 1st innings: C. Williams c Md. Shakeer b Lalit 153, S. Parab c Shinde b Ojha 24, A. Vilakhia c Pai b Ojha 68, Rakesh Solanki c Shakeer b Ashwin 78, Yusuf Pathan b Ojha 28, Pinal Shah c Shoaib b Lalit 68, Irfan Pathan lbw b Shinde 26, A. Chauhan lbw b Lalit 12, K. Panchal (not out) 8, R. Pawar cOjha b Lalit 2. Extras: (b-5, lb-2 nb-2) 9. Total (for nine wkts. decl in 145.1 overs) 476.

Fall of wickets: 1-46, 2-178, 3-314, 4-354, 5-354, 6-425, 7-456, 8-467, 9-476.

Hyderabad bowling: Shoaib 15-4-52-0, Ashwin 24-3-71-1, Lalit 39.1-6-132-4, Ojha 44-8-139-3, Shinde 21-3-68-1, Arjun 2-0-7-0.

Hyderabad — 2nd innings: D. Manohar c Shah b Irfan 0, D.B. Ravi Teja (batting) 27, Anoop Pai (batting) 12. Extras (lb-1) 1. Total (for one wkt. in 17 overs): 40.

Fall of wicket: 1-0.

Baroda bowling: Irfan 7-3-15-1, Sunit 5-1-13-0, Yusuf 3-0-11-0, Rajesh 2-2-0-0.

Other scores: Super League: Maharashtra 310 and 22 for no loss in 4.2 overs bt Himachal Pradesh 83 and 247 in 97.5 overs (Mukesh Sharma 56, A. Mannu 89, S.M. Fallah six for 49), at Dharmshala. Maharashtra 6, H.P. 0.

Mumbai 166 and 471 for nine decl. in 112 overs (S.O. Kukreja 199, A.M. Nayar 93, A.B. Agarkar 60, P.J. Sangwan five for 102) v. Delhi 251 and 59 for no loss in 20 overs in Mumbai.

Punjab 381 and 238 for seven in 83 overs (R. Inder 62, R.S. Ricky 76 n.o.) v. U.P. 375 in 70.1 overs (R.P. Srivastava 40, M. Kaif 66, S.K. Raina 123, V.R.V. Singh seven for 112) at Chandigarh.

Saurashtra 307 and 253 for three in 75 overs (K.M. Vaghela 51, C.A. Pujara 151 n.o.) v. Rajasthan 172 at Jaipur.

Plate League: Haryana 193 and 97 for eight in 50 overs v. Railways 385 for nine decl. in 148 overs (A.A. Pagnis 59, S.B. Bangar 64, S. Sanyal 40, M. Rawat 55) at Rohtak.

Gujarat 437 bt Services 87 in 42 overs (Yashpal Singh 44, M.B. Parmar six for 44) and 147 in 48.2 overs (D. Israni 40, Jasvir Singh 52, M. B. Parmar five for 22) in New Delhi. Pts: Gujarat 6, Services 0.

Vidarbha 315 and 150 for six in 39 overs (H. V. Shitoot 50) v. Tripura 201 in 93.4 overs (R.H. Saha 58, R. Dutta 47 n.o.) at Nagpur.

Assam 198 and 152 v. Kerala 85 and 200 for six in 100.3 overs (R.R. Prem 53, P. Prasanth 80) at Silchar.

Madhya Pradesh 475 and 186 for four in 39.1 overs (N.V. Ojha 93, J.S. Saxena 58) v. Goa 293 in 91.4 overs (S.A. Asnodkar 73, A. Ratra 62, S. Pandey six for 46) at Margao.

Jharkhand 105 and 403 in 126.2 overs (S. Ghosh 43, M. Vardhan 79, S. Tiwary 169) v. J and K 135 and 85 for four in 38.3 overs (A. Bhatt 43) at Jammu.

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