Hyderabad made heavy weather of a modest target of 142 before notching up a face-saving, four-wicket win over Assam on the final day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Group A match at the Barsapara Stadium here on Monday.
When the chase began, ironically it was Hyderabad which was staring at a likely defeat as Arup Das and Rajjakuddin Ahmed bowled with fire and struck early blows to reduce the visitor to 18 for three in 6.3 overs.
Opener Akshath Reddy was bowled - missing the line completely trying to whip Rajjakuddin, Tanmay Agarwal was trapped lbw playing across the line to Arup and soon T. Ravi Teja played an irresponsible slash on off-stump to be caught behind off the same bowler.
Then, wicketkeeper-batsman K. Sumanth, who looked good even hitting a clean six off left-arm spinner Rahul Singh, was ‘shocked’ to be declared caught behind off offie Riyan Parag. Soon, Hyderabad captain Rayudu was lucky to be dropped off Parag in the slips when he was one and the score reading 58 for four in the 20th over.
Later, when southpaw B. Sandeep was gobbled up by substitute slip fielder Pallav Kumar Das as he leaned forward tentatively to edge Parag, Hyderabad was in dire straits at 69 for five in 24.1 overs.
But, then Rayudu ( 52 not out, 73b, 7 x 4 ) and Bhandari (26, 36b, 1 x 4, 1 x 6) batted sensibly to help their team achieve the target but not before Assam gave it a real scare.
Amit completes ton
Earlier, Assam, resuming at its overnight score of 300 for seven, folded up for 331 after 11 overs of play with Amit Sinha (overnight on 96) completing a thoroughly deserving (122, 233b, 14 x 4, 1 x 6) impressive century which helped his team come back so strongly.
And, it was pacer Ravi Kiran who put an end to Amit’s long stay and also to the innings when he cleaned up the centurion – missing the line expectedly going for a big heave.
Hyderabad now has 15 points from five games and plays Delhi at home from November 25.
The scores :
Hyderabad —1st innings : 326.
Assam —1st innings : 136.
Assam —2nd innings : Riyan Parag c Sumanth b Ravi Kiran 3, Rishav Das lbw b Mehdi 52, Sibsankar Roy b Ravi Teja 4, Gokul Sharma c Sandeep b Tyagi 28, Amit Sinha b Ravi Kiran 122, Wasiqur Rahman lbw b Muddassir 0, Rajat Khan c Sumanth b Tyagi 15, Rajjakuddin Ahmed b Ravi Kiran 75, Pritam Das c Rayudu b Mudassir 14, Arup Das b Tyagi 4, Rahul Singh (not out) 0; Extras: (nb-2, w-5, lb-7) 14; Total: (in 109 overs): 331.
Fall of wickets : 1-8, 2-15, 3-76, 4-108, 5-109, 6-131, 7-251, 8-304, 9-330.
Hyderabad bowling : Ravi Kiran 26-2-75-3, Ravi Teja 15-2-53-1, Sudeep Tyagi 16-3-34-3, Mohammad Muddassir 16-5-56-2, Mehdi Hasan 16-4-41-1, Akash Bhandari 18-6-53-0, Sandeep 2-0-12-0.
Hyderabad – 2nd innings : Tanmay Agarwal lbw b Arup 5, Akshath Reddy b Rajjakuddin Ahmed 2, K. Sumanth c Wasiqur b Parag 32, T. Ravi Teja c Wasiqur b Arup 4, B. Sandeep c P.K. Das b Parag 16, Ambati Rayudu (not out) 52, Akash Bhandari lbw b Rahul Singh 26, Mehdi Hasan (not out) 4; Extras: (b-1, lb-2) 3; Total: (for six wickets in 39 overs): 144.
Fall of wickets : 1-6, 2-8, 3-18, 4-54, 5-69, 6-124.
Assam bowling : Arup Das 7-0-21-2, Rajjakuddin Ahmed 7-0-23-1, Rahul Singh 12-0-36-1, Pritam Das 3-0-20-0, Rayan Parag 10-2-41-2.
(Hyderabad won by four wickets)
