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Suman hits belligerent century

Principal Correspondent

— Photo: K. Ramesh Babu

WELL DONE: Hyderabad opener T. Suman acknowledges his maiden Ranji Trophy century.

HYDERABAD: T. Suman batted to his potential to score a belligerent, maiden century (131, 303 minutes, 224 balls, 18 x 4, 4 x 6) and help Hyderabad score 246 for seven at close on the first day against Punjab in the four-day Ranji Trophy Elite Group ‘A’ match at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium (Uppal) here on Friday.

The 24-year-old opener thrived on a dropped chance in the slip cordon off Manpreet Singh Gony when he was on six and the team score read 18 for one. Combining authority with wonderful placement, Suman unleashed some of his trademark strokes — walking into the cover-drives and standing up to pull nonchalantly.

Significantly, he displayed patience and stroke selection on Friday to stay longer at the crease. The fast bowlers Amanpreet Singh and Gony were treated with disdain by Suman, despite losing partner D.B. Ravi Teja (4) cheaply, poking at an outswinger from Amanpreet.

Sarabjit shines

The impressive leg-spinner Sarabjit Singh struck the second blow when southpaw Anoop Pai misread a googly to be plumb in front on the backfoot shuffle. Sarabjit repeatedly harrassed the batsmen with his teasing line and length and mixed his googlies pretty effectively.

He foxed captain N. Arjun Yadav to lean forward for a defensive push only to be caught behind smartly by Uday Kaul. At the other end, Suman continued to play some amazing strokes and punished the erring spinners – Sarabjit Singh and left-armer Varun Khanna — by hitting them for four big sixes.

Big partnership

During the 134-run stand for the fourth wicket between Suman and the gritty Amol Shinde (57, 236 minutes, 177 balls, 6 x 4), it looked Hyderabad was on course for a big score.

Suman was lucky to survive another chance at 64 when his uppish off-drive was floored at cover off Sarabjit. Suman completed his maiden Ranji century by onn-driving and leaning into an exquisite cover-drive off Amanpreet in one over.

And once Suman departed, going for a big hit only to see Ravi Inder Singh jump in the air just in time to pluck a difficult catch off Sarabjit, Punjab fought its way back into the game. Shinde was run-out trying to steal a non-existent leg-bye even as the bowler Amanpreet was appealing for a lbw decision. Ravi Inder’s diving throw, running in from gully, left Shinde stranded at the striker’s end.

Sarabjit Singh finished the day with a four-wicket haul.

The scores:

Hyderabad – 1st innings: T. Suman c Ravi Inder b Sarabjit 131, D.B. Ravi Teja c Kaul b Amanpreet 4, S. Anoop Pai lbw b Sarabjit 26, N. Arjun Yadav c Kaul b Sarabjit 0, A. Shinde (run out) 57, A. Kumar lbw b Gony 0, A. Quadri (batting) 18, M.P. Arjun c R. Singh b Sarabjit 1, S. M. Shoaib (batting) 0, Extras (lb-4, nb-5) 9; Total: (for seven wkts. in 90 overs): 246.

Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-77, 3-86, 4-220, 5-221, 6-240, 7-246.

Punjab bowling: Gony 21-5-62-1, Amanpreet 18-5-64-1, Varun 20-6-63-0, Sarabjit 28-10-51-4, Anukar 3-1-2-0.

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