Day 1 Report

Hyderabad won the toss and opted to bat first. They made two changes to the side that played Delhi in the quarterfinals. Left arm medium pacer Vishnuvardhan made way for left arm spinner R Sridhar and Harvind Shetty was replaced by left arm opener Daniel Manohar.

The first wicket fell within just 15 minutes. Daniel Manohar was caught at short mid-wicket by Rajesh Chauhan when he tried to pull Jai Prakash Yadav. VVS Laxman was joined by Nandakishore, the highest run getter for Hyderabad this season (721 runs). These two batsmen added 56 runs of 102 balls. Nandakishore was out when he was on 23. At lunch the hosts, Hyderabad, were 100/2. Laxman was unbeaten on 57.

Upon resumption, Laxman with a single scored his 700th run this season (which included 3 centuries and 2 half centuries). MV Sridhar, who was unbeaten on 8 at lunch, struck three brilliant fours while at the other end VVS Laxman played two exquisite square drives. When Laxman reached 78 he had aggregated 600 runs in the last four innings.

The VVS Laxman was the 3rd wicket to fall. He had made 84 runs. The fall of his wicket gave Madhya Pradesh the upper hand. By mid afternoon Madhya Pradesh had taken a strangle hold of the match. At tea Hyderabad was 183 for 4 wickets of 72 overs. MV Sridhar missed a full length ball of Sodhi and was clean bowled. Sridhar had struck 4 fours in his two hours stay and had scored 29 of 100 balls.

After tea Vanka Pratap was caught at silly point by Abbas Ali of the bowling of Manish Majithia for a well made 32. He was soon followed by Vinay Kumar who was also caught at silly point by Abbas Ali of the bowling of Sunil Lahore. At the close of stumps, the 7th wicket pair of Youraj Singh(14) and R Sridhar(30) had added 40 runs.

Day 2 Report:

The unbeaten 84 run partnership for the 4th wicket between Devender Bundela (48) and left hander Abbas Ali (54), put Hyderabad in a bit of bother. Madhya Pradesh is just 109 runs away from taking the vital first innings lead.

In the morning Hyderabad's innings folded at 280 runs, they lost the remaining four wickets after adding only 43 runs to the overnight score. First to go this morning was Youraj Singh for 14. Skipper Raju chipped in with an useful 25 not out to help his side reach 280.

The hosts M.P. had 71 minutes till lunch. By which time they had scored 43 for the loss of Chandra Prakash Sahu for a stroke-filled 33 which contained 7 hits to the fence. In fact he score 14 runs (including 3 fours) of a V Pratap's 4th over. When Kanwaljit Singh was introduced, he greeted him with a pull-shot to the fence. But ultimately he perished to Singh. Daniel Manohar at silly point pulled off a brilliant catch. The opening pair put on 43 runs in 13.3 overs. MP lost its second wicket at 57 when Santosh Sahu was caught by Youraj Singh of the bowling of Venkatpathi Raju.

After an addition of 31 runs for the 3rd wicket Hyderabad struck for the third and last time of the day when they dismissed opener Jay Prakash Yadav for 19. He was caught by at first slip M V Sridhar off Venkatapathi Raju. There after Hyderabad went wicketless for the entire post-tea session.

For the visitors, left hander Abbas Ali batted brilliantly, he punished every loose delivery. In fact he over took Devender Bundela who had a head start of 20 runs and he had already scored a half-century by the close of play with two successive fours.

Day 3 Report:

Today an amazing 9 wickets fell and 222 runs were scored of 90.3 overs. The semifinal match is poised slightly in favour of Madhya Pradesh at close of play on day 3.

The third day belonged to Devender Bundela who masterminded the innings by scoring 113 runs and occupied the crease for 103.4 overs. He contributed 258 runs to the team's kitty with the help of four partners. 31 for the 3rd wicket, 116 for the 4th fourth wicket, 78 for the 5th wicket and 33 for the 6th wicket. The importance of his presence was evident when after his departure only 22 runs were added to the total score by the last five Madhya Pradesh batsmen.

Bundela survived a confident appeal for a catch by Nandakishore at silly point of the bowling of Venkatapathy Raju's 28th over. However his knock enabled Madhya Pradesh to gain a vital first innings lead of 57 runs. Madhya Pradesh began their second innings by bowling wide outside the leg stump denying the Hyderabad batsmen the freedom to score freely and quickly. Left-arm spinners Manish Majithia and Sunil Lahore, operating in tandem, in the last 11 overs, bowled this negative line.

Hyderabad's second innings started after the tea break and were soon pushed back by the loss of two wickets in just 5 balls. First to go was Daniel Manohar who offered no stroke only to see his off bail dislodged, much to the delight of the Madhya Pradesh team. Lanky Harvinder Singh was the bowler. Then there was a terrible mix-up when Nandakishore played to the mid-wicket area and took off for a single only to find the non-striker Vanka Pratap rooted at the non-strikers end. Raja Ali fired the throw to the wicketkeeper's end, who did the rest. Hyderabad were struggling at 2 for one after one over. The third wicket pair of Pratap (26) & M V Sridhar (29) wiped the deficit of 57 runs by close of play. Hyderabad in effect are 0/2 with two full days left. A target of 275-300 will give the home team an outside chance.

Day 4 Report:

Vanka Pratap's Century Lifts Hyderabad's Hopes.

On the penultimate day, 237 runs were scored for the loss of 9 wickets. Hyderabad, having conceeded a first innings lead, needed to play for an outright win. Therefore it had to score as many runs as possible and as fast as it could. But Madhya Pradesh had other ideas.They continued to bowl a negative line of attack with a 3 and 6 field almost for the entire day. Vanka Pratap stood like the rock of Gibralter in the middle watching in vain as his partners got out one after the other. The only good partnership for Hyderabad was between Vanka Pratap and Vinay Kumar for the sixth wicket.

In the pre-lunch session boundaries were hard to comeby for Hyderabad. They managed only 86 runs in 37 overs and lost M V Sridhar [49] and VVS Laxman. Laxman scored a quickfire 28 off 32 balls which included three fours. Laxman improvised by leaving all his stumps open to counter the leg-stump line. R Sridhar promoted as a pinch hitter, contributed only 13. After he was out Vinay Kumar came to the crease when the score was 145/5. These two batsmen added 107 runs of 242 balls. Of this Vinay contributed forty five and Pratap forty three. Pratap celebrated his century with a huge six over long-on of the bowling of Sunil Lahore. His marathon innings gives Hyderabad a glimmer of hope of making a match of it tomorrow.

The successful bowlers for Madhya Pradesh were Manish Majithia [43-6-96-4] and Harvinder Sodhi [12-3-27-2].

Hyderabad struck early of the last ball of the day when Chandra Prakash Sahu was adjusted LBW of Daniel Manohar.

It will be a new day tomorrow and all Hyderabad needs are a couple of quick wickets while MP will probably like to bat through the day. It will not be easy for the visitors to score on the fifth day wicket. A thrilling finish is expected. In the past, Hyderabad has won on two occasions when faced with similar circumstances.

Day 5 Report:

The plan devised by the Madhya Pradesh skipper Chandrakant Pandit worked well. The overnight batsman Jay Prakash Yadav played a fine waiting game punishing the loose deliveries to the ropes and helped himself to a fine 83 which included 13 fours. Lanky medium pace bowler Harvinder Sodhi was his partner with the sole purpose of occupying the crease for as long as possible and thereby consuming precious overs.

By lunch, the match was settled in favour of Madhya Pradesh. The strategy of promoting Harvinder Sodhi paid rich dividends when the hosts, Hyderabad, were denied wickets until the stroke of lunch. Sodhi played to perfection. With his long reach he avoided many chances of LBW until he was unfortunately adjudged LBW by the controversial umpire BK Shivadas, who replaced SK Bansal from the 3rd day onwards.

At lunch, Madhya Pradesh were 83 for 2, with 51 overs still left in the game. Hyderabad required 8 wickets. After lunch, Madhya Pradesh lost the lone wicket of JP Yadav. The effective changes made in the batting order proved too good for Hyderabad. In fact, Hyderabad tried as many as six bowlers but could make no in-roads. Both Raja Ali and Devender Bundela remained unbeaten till the match was called off after the 8th mandatory over was bowled. Madhya Pradesh still needed 33 runs of the remaining 7 mandatory overs.

Madhya Pradesh has qualified for the Ranji Trophy final against Karnataka.