Hyderabad v Karala (Ranji Trophy, South Zone League)

Blessington Thomas, CricInfo
6-9 November 1998

Progress: Hyderabad 94-2 (34 ov) Lunch, 166-3 (66 ov) Tea, 235-4 (90 ov) Close.

Hyderabad recovered from the early loss of left-hander Daniel Manohar to post a decent score at the end of the first day's play.

Manohar was out leg-before to Sunil Oasis, bowling from the south end, when he shuffled across to a straight ball for 14. The first wicket fell at 29 in the 11th over. A 58-run partnership for the second wicket ensued between Arvind Shetty and MV Sridhar. Shetty was adjudged leg-before to Ramprakash for a very well made 43 (9x4). He looked set for a big score. Lunch was taked with Hyderabad at 94 runs (35 overs) in 150 minutes of play.

Between lunch and tea, 72 runs were added in 32 overs, for the loss of MV Sridhar, who scored the 18th half-Century of his illustrious Ranji career and his fifth against Kerala. He was taken brilliantly by the lone slip fielder Sunil Oasis who moved to his right, showing great anticipation.

Between tea and close, 69 runs were added in 24 overs, Vanka Pratap and Nandakishore scoring their individual half-Centuries. Vanka was caught by Sunil Oasis at short-cover, another good catch. In the last over of the day, after a couple of appeals for bad light, Nandakishore brought up his fifty with pulled four through mid-wicket off the bowling of Ananthapadmanabhan (the last ball of the day).

At close of play Nandakishore was 51 not out. Keeping him company is Vinay Kumar on 19. These two have added 48 runs in 53 minutes (13.4 overs) thus far.

Day 2: Nandakishore and Vinay Kumar score centuries

The overnight not out Hyderabad batsmen scored centuries in the Ranji Trophy match between Hyderabad and Kerala being played here at the NFC ground.

Play started 70 minutes behind schedule time as overnight rain made the outfield wet. Kerala took the second new ball at the start of proceedings on the second day morning. Eight minutes of play was possible before lunch. Both the batsmen were still batting at lunch, the senior batsman Nandakishore on 75 and Vinay Kumar on 51 and the side's total reading 291 (59 runs in 19 overs bowled till lunch).

After resumption Nanda Kishore showed some urgency in reaching the coveted figure when he pushed Sreekumar Nair on the off-side for a single, his third ton in his 26th Ranji Trophy match and 43rd innings (271 mins, 212 balls, 12 fours). He was tragically run out in the next over after playing Ramprakash towards mid-On, where Sanjay Mohan fumbled to stop the ball but recovered quickly enough to run the batsman at the non-striker's end with a direct hit. The association of Nanda Kishore/Vinay Kumar produced 141 runs for the 5th wicket in 191 minutes and in 50 overs.

Vinay Kumar in the mean time, who batted like a champion before lunch, adding 32 runs to his overnight 19, went into his shell and could garner only 40 runs in the extended 150 minutes post lunch session in 122 balls. At tea the hosts were 390-4 in 150 overs, Vinay on 91 and Youraj on 30. Vinay completed a well-deserved maiden century 24 minutes after tea, in his 6th Ranji Trophy match and 9th innings, (307 mins, 250 balls, 12 fours, 2 sixes, one each of Anantha and Santosh Karunakaran).

Hyderabad declared immediately upon Vinay reaching his century at 406 runs, 24 minutes after tea. Vinay and Youraj added an unbeaten 78 runs for the sixth wicket in 114 minutes and 29.1 overs. Play was extended, and Kerala had to face 23 overs. Play was called off, due to bad light after 18.1 overs, 29 for the loss of opener Gibi Alex caught at silly-point off Venkatapathy Raju. At close play Shankar (13) and Ananthapadmanabhan (14) were at the crease.

Day 3 Report

This was a day of inspections and interruptions. Play started 30 minutes behind schedule at 10 am and stopped at 10:44 due to bad light. Kerala were 39/1 in 28 overs at this point.

There was a suspension of play for 106 minutes, during which lunch was taken. In the post-lunch session of 150 minutes, Kerala lost four wickets and were 100-5 at tea in 61 overs. First to go today was Shankar caught at short-leg by Nanda Kishore off Kanwaljeet for 20, Shankar and Ananthapadmanabhan added 49 runs for the 2nd wicket in 119 minutes and 30.1 overs. Next to go was the Kerala skipper Ananthabadmanabhan at 78, caught behind by Youraj Singh for a well compiled 48 (5 fours), in a stay of nearly 2 1/2 hours and having faced 112 balls. Sunil Oasis survived a confident lbw appeal off the first ball faced from NP Singh, the umpire being Suresh Deo. When he was given out caught behind by Youraj Singh off Kanwaljeet Singh by umpire Marcus Couto, he seemed unhappy with the decision. Then, Ajay Kuduva and Sanjay Mohan added 18 runs in 46 minutes, as dark rain-clouds gathered overhead.

Raju replaced NP Singh, as the batsman appealed for bad light, and met with success with 10 minutes to go for tea. Raju had Sanjay lbw for four. Upon resumption after tea, only two overs were possible before the skies opened up.

Play was called off at 4 pm by the umpires. In the 185 minutes of play that was possible today, Kerala added 74 runs in 44.5 overs, losing 4 wickets in the process.

Day 4: Sunil Oasis misses century

The four-day Ranji Trophy League match between hosts Hyderabad and Kerala faded into draw on the fourth and final day.

Following on, 224 runs behind, Kerala managed to reach 129 for the loss of 5 wickets when play was called off after the 15th mandatory over. Only Sunil Oasis batted with authority in scoring a fine 95, coming in at the fall of second wicket at 9 runs. Oasis belted two bowlers in particular. Of the 32 runs conceded by left arm spinner R Sridhar, he scored 31 of them with 2 sixes and three fours, and in one particular over of Arvind Shetty he clobberd him for 14 runs. He also scored a six and three fours off the bowling of Venkatapathy Raju. Oasis was finally caught by Vinay Kumar at long-on off the bowling of Kanwaljeet Singh in the 14th Mandatory over.

Kanwaljeet Singh, earlier claimed his 200th Ranji Trophy Wicket when he had Shandar caught at silly point by Daniel Manohar for 12 runs. Kanwaljeet Singh became the fifth Hyderabad bowler to account for 200 or more wickets in Ranji Trophy Championship (after M L Jaismiha, M V Narasimha Rao, Arshad Ayub, and S L Venkatapathy Raju)

Earlier in the morning play began 85 minutes behind schedule due to the wet outfield caused by heavy overnight rain in the city. Kerala lost Ajay Kuduva to Narenderpal Singh in the third over of the morning, Narenderpal Singh, soon followed by Ramprakash. A valuable 46 run partnership for the eighth wicket between Sree Kumar Nair and Kamaruddin, consumed vital time. Kamaruddin was more adventurous, lifting Kanwaljeet for a six at long-on besides scoring six fours in his 42 compiled in 64 balls in a stay of 72 minutes. Kerala's first innings folded 54 minutes after Lunch.

From this match Hyderabad garnered 5 points on the basis of their first innings lead, while Kerala got 3 points. After the two games played by both the teams thus far, Kerala has 11 points and Hyderabad has 8 Points. Hyderabad plays Karnataka and Kerala plays Andhra next.