Hyderabad takes crucial first innings lead

Ravi Teja and Siraj do the trick for the hosts with the second new ball

Cleaned up: Manpreet Singh Grewal is beaten all ends up to this beauty from Mohd. Siraj.

Punjab lost the script in the space of 11.5 overs, scoring just 35 runs on the third morning as pacers T. Ravi Teja and Mohd. Siraj picked up six wickets with the second new ball to help Hyderabad take a vital first innings lead of 14 runs in the four-day Ranji Trophy Group-B match at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Monday.

Resuming at 202 for four, a fifth-wicket stand of 106 between captain Mandeep Singh and the free-stroking Gurkeerat Mann put Punjab on course of achieving the first objective of taking the lead.

Ravi Kiran misses action

But, once the second new ball was taken, both Ravi Teja and Siraj pitched the ball up on a track which had good bounce and carry. And, all this action without the the injured frontline pacer Ravi Kiran who didn’t come on to the field at all today.

The Punjab collapse started once Mandeep was caught smartly at slip by B. Sandeep off Ravi Teja.

Ravi Teja’s spell with second new ball read 6-0-21-4 while Siraj returned figures of 5.5-1-14-2.

Gurkeerat paid the price for not farming the strike at the end as he exposed both Manpreet and Kaul to the pacers. In the second essay, Hyderabad was sitting pretty at 155 for two with Akshath Reddy and B. Sandeep looking good for big scores.

The scores: Hyderabad — 1st innings: 317.

Punjab — 1st innings: Jiwanjot Singh c Chaitanya b Md Siraj 1, Shubman Gill lbw b Ravi Teja 10, Anmolpreet Singh c (sub) b Tanay 85, Sanvir Singh c Chaitanya b Mehdi 30, Mandeep Singh c B. Sandeep b Ravi Teja 63, Gurkeerat Mann (not out) 87, Abhishek Gupta c Chaitanya b Ravi Teja 0, Mayank Markande c Chaitanya b Ravi Teja 0, Arpit Panu c Mehdi b Ravi Teja 0, Manpreet Singh Gony b Siraj 0, Siddharth Kaul lbw b Siraj 0; Extras (nb-2, w-1, b-5, lb-6): 14; Total (in 93.5 overs): 303.

Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-18, 3-95, 4-166, 5-274, 6-274, 7-300, 8-300, 9-301.

Hyderabad bowling: Ravi Kiran 1.3-1-2-0, Siraj 24.5-4-74-3, Ravi Teja 19.5-2-57-5, Mehdi 18-3-60-1, Tanay 27.4-1-92-1, Rohit Rayudu 2-0-7-0.

Hyderabad — 2nd innings: Tanmay Agarwal st Abhishek b Markande 54, K. Rohit Rayudu c & b Arpit 8, Akshath Reddy (batting) 67, B. Sandeep (batting) 25; Extras (w-1): 1; Total (for two wkts. in 55 overs): 155.

Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-87.

Punjab bowling: Gony 9-1-19-0, Kaul 10-3-23-0, Sanvir 5-0-7-0, Arpit 10-1-52-1, Markande 14-2-35-1, Gurkeerat 2-0-6-0, Anmolpreet 5-0-13-0 .