Centuries by Parthiv Patel and Manprit Juneja besides Bhargav Merai’s 78 saw Gujarat pile up 566 against Hyderabad in its Ranji Trophy group A fifth round match at the Sardar Patel Stadium about half an hour before close on Sunday.
When stumps were drawn, Hyderabad had responded with 50 for the loss of opener K. Sumanth.
The morning session proved productive for Hyderabad as it effected the dismissals of overnight batsmen Krunal Patel and Bhargav Merai. Time and again the bowlers beat the bat, didn’t exploit the edge with the new ball in the first hour and saw a couple of snicks spilt too.
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Shoddy fielding was made up somewhat by three splendid catches. Vihari with a dive at gully brought off Krunal’s dismissal off Anwar Khan. Not much later Ahmed Quadri, stationed at short cover, plucked a catch out of thin air to send back Merai.
Parthiv hits ton
Post lunch, Gujarat’s batsmen toyed with the waning Hyderabad attack, now bereft of the zeal from the session before. Shortly after, they crossed one milestone after another. First came the host’s 400, then Manprit Juneja’s half-century. Just after the team’s total touched 450, Parthiv Patel got his 10th Ranji century, his 18th in first class cricket.
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For the fifth wicket, the duo had added 178 runs in five minutes short of three hours. So attuned were they with the bowling that they indulged in some reverse sweeps, much to the delight of the goodly Sunday crowd.
The Gujarat skipper’s bond with the bat was as strong as ever, 14 boundaries decorating his 222 minute stay for a score that some are superstitious about 111. The southpaw’s hard hit was held overhead by extra cover Sandeep Rajan off Vihari.
Centurion no. 3 emerged in the form of Manprit Juneja, who’s had a fine run too, posting his fourth century in seven matches. Not much later, the home side had left 500 and 550 behind. The charge to 600 saw the tail crumble from 562 for seven to 566 all out.
The scores:
Gujarat — 1st innings: Smit Patel c Abhinav Kumar b Anwar Khan 114, Samit Gohel c Abhinav b Lalith 85, Bhargav Merai c Quadri b Vihari 78, Krunal Patel c Vihari b Anwar 7, Parthiv Patel c Sandeep Rajan b Vihari 111, Manprit Juneja c b Lalith 106, Rujul Bhatt c Akshath Reddy b Lalith 33, Rakesh Dhruv c Sandeep Rajan b Quadri 17, Rush Kalaria c Vihari b Quadri 2, Krushang Patel (run out) 0, Bhavesh Baria not out 0, Extras (b-1, lb-1, nb-8, w-3): 13; Total (in 165.2 overs): 566.
Fall of wickets: 1-163, 2-260, 3-280, 4-305, 5-483, 6-541, 7-562, 8-566, 9-566.
Hyderabad bowling: Ashish Reddy 24-4-83-0, Anwar Khan 26-13-57-2, M.A. Khader 20-1-73-0, G.H. Vihari 18-2-69-2, Lalith Mohan 35.2-5-116-3, S.A. Quadri 25-2-92-2, B. Sandeep 13-0-55-0, Sandeep Rajan 4-0-19-0.
Hyderabad — 1st innings: K. Sumanth c Parthiv b Dhruv 18, Akshath Reddy (batting) 30, M.A. Khader (batting) 2, Total (for one wkt. in 12 overs): 50.
Fall of wicket: 1-34.
Gujarat bowling: R. Kalaria 3-1-5-0, Krushang 3-0-10-0, Bhavesh B. 2-0-7-0, Rakesh D. 3-0-16-1, Krunal P. 1-0-12-0.