Rajasthan, thanks to opener Manender Singh’s impressive century and handy contribution from southpaw Mahipal Lomror, scored a nine-wicket win over Hyderabad on the third day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Elite Group match at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Wednesday.
Earlier, resuming at 101 for six, Hyderabad was bowled out for 156. Even this modest score was possible due to the belligerence of seasoned opener P. Akshath Reddy, who cracked his first half-century (71, 162b, 8x4, 2x6) of the season.
Short-pitch stuff
Cleverly, the Rajasthan left-arm pace duo of Aniket Choudhary and Tanveer-ul-Haq preferred the short-pitched bowling to repeatedly unsettle the batsmen and they were successful too.
Chama Milind was the first to go when he ducked to Aniket, expecting a bouncer only to spoon up a simple catch, as the length ball never really rose.
Then, Mehdi Hasan played an irresponsible shot. After slashing Tanveer uppishly to the third man fence, Akshath walked down and had a word of caution with him. But Mehdi repeated the stroke off the next delivery only to edge to the wicketkeeper.
Just when Akshath was threatening to score a few important runs at the end, he went for an ambitious lofted stroke off part-time slow bowler Lomror and was bowled.
Defending 192, the Hyderabad bowling attack struggled, compared to the spirited show it put up on the second day.
With star bowler Ravi Kiran failing to provide the breakthroughs on a pitch which had also eased considerably, the rest struggled.
After Yash Kothari was dismissed cheaply, Manender Singh (107 n.o., 147b, 14x4) and Lomror (71 n.o., 114b, 8x4, 1x6) came up with an unbeaten 176-runs partnership.
Manender was lucky to be dropped thrice — on 49, 76 and 98 — slip fielder Jaweed Ali being the culprit on all three occasions off spinners Saaketh, Mehdi Hasan and pacer Ravi Teja respectively.
However, the two stayed put and and ensured that there was no way the home team could come back into the match.
Rajasthan now has 16 points from six matches and Hyderabad remains at the bottom of the table with six points from seven games, winning just one and losing six. It next plays Vidarbha in its last game on February 12 here with the threat of relegation looming large.
The scores:
Hyderabad — 1st innings: 171.
Rajasthan — 1st innings: 135.
Hyderabad — 2nd innings: Tanmay Agarwal c Rituraj b Tanveer 16, P. Akshath Reddy b Lomror 71, B. Sandeep b Tanveer 9, Himalay Agarwal c Rituraj b Aniket 2, Jaweed Ali c Manender b Aniket 0, K. Sumanth c Garhwal b Shubham 3, T. Ravi Teja c Kothari b Aniket 20, C.V. Milind c Kothari b Aniket 2, Mehdi Hasan c Manender b Tanveer 7, Saaketh Sai Ram st Manender b Shubham 10, Ravi Kiran (not out) 6; Extras (lb-4, w-6): 10; Total (in 53.4 overs): 156.
Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-46, 3-53, 4-53, 5-68, 6-101, 7-103, 8-112, 9-146, 10-156.
Rajasthan bowling: Aniket 20-6-48-4, Tanveer 14-2-44-3, Rituraj 12-3-30-0, Shubham 6-1-22-2, Lomror 1.4-0-8-1.
Rajasthan — 2nd innings: Yash Kothari lbw b Ravi Teja 6, Manender Singh (not out) 107, Mahipal Lomror (not out) 71; Extras (nb-4, w-1, b-4, lb-2): 11; Total (for one wkt. in 48.5 overs): 195.
Fall of wicket: 1-19.
Hyderabad bowling: Ravi Kiran 11-3-44-0, Milind 10-1-22-0, Ravi Teja 9-0-45-1, Mehdi 9.5-0-38-0, Saaketh 7-0-35-0, Sandeep 2-1-5-0 .
