Hyderbad v Tamil Nadu (Ranji South Zone)

Blessington Thomas, CricInfo
29 October - 1 November 1998

HYDERABAD - Hyderabad put up a pathetic batting display on the first day of their four-day Ranji Trophy South Zone fixture, here at the Gymkhana Ground. Opting to bat first on a track where the odd ball was keeping a trifle low, Hyderabad batted below their potential. From 148 for three wickets in 67 overs at tea, they lost their remaining seven wickets for a mere 42 runs. The wrecker-in-chief was the lanky medium pace bowler S Mahesh claiming five wickets, while his partner Kumaran claimed two wickets in the closing stages of the day. Left-arm spinner Sriram accounting for the remaining three wickets.

It all began with opener Arvind Shetty letting the ball go past him (was in two-minds) without offering a stroke, only to see his off-stump uprooted. Daniel Manohar and Nandakishore steadied the innings. They added a valuable 65 runs for the second wicket in 27 overs consuming 110 minutes. Mahesh got the breakthrough when he came on to bowl just 10 minutes before lunch. Debutant Tamil Nadu wicket-keeper took his first catch of the match to dismiss Manohar. At lunch time Hyderabad were 87 for 2 in the 150 minutes first session.

Between lunch and tea, Hyderabad added 61 runs for the loss of just one wicket. The main contributor to the Hyderabad score was Nandakishore who accumulated his runs via well-timed off-drives mostly square of the wicket. He was out trying of flick a rank out-side delivery from Sriram, off his hips, only to be caught behind on the leg side.

The slump began after tea with Hyderabad placed at 148 for three in 67 overs. The hosts lost three wickets in the space of 11 balls between the 71st and 73rd overs of the innings. First to go was Vanka Pratap in the 71st over, caught behind by wicket-keeper Arasu, off Mahesh; in the 72nd over from Sriram, Santosh Yadav was bowled, playing back to a ball that kept low, and in the next over Mahesh got the verdict from Umpire Kamal Juneja, when the batsman MV Sridhar stretching forward was given out lbw.

There were two Partnership of 16 runs each for the 7th and 8th wickets, the first between Noel David and Youraj Singh, and the next between Youraj and Raju, before the tail was finished off with the second new ball. The new ball was claimed after 85.2 overs at 180/7, Hyderabad lost their final three wickets in the space of 9 balls for the addition on only one run, Kumaran claiming two wickets in four balls, and Mahesh finished the Hyderabad innings with the wicket of Kanwaljeet Singh.

During the course of the game former Hyderabad skipper MV Sridhar set a new record in surpassing the existing individual highest Ranji aggregate for a Hyderabad player of 5226 runs standing in the name of Hyderabad's coach ML Jaisimha. Sridhar, playing in his 69th Ranji Trophy Match and 105th innings, went past Jaisimha's tally before tea, when he hit his second four to reach 21. At the end if his innings, he had 5239 runs.

Day 2 Report

HYDERABAD - The second day's play belonged to S Sriram (101), which enabled Tamil Nadu to go past Hyderabad's 192 off the last ball of play. Tamil Nadu lost the early wicket of Ramesh in the morning when it began its innings, after the first wicket's fall at 17 runs, the 22 year old Sriram joined Vasantha Kumar, the latter playing second fiddle, as the two put on 124 runs for the second wicket in 205 minutes and 51.5 overs. The duo was unseparated at lunch (72/1)

In the post-lunch session, Tamil Nadu added 82 runs in 30 overs and lost the wicket of Vasanth. He was out after compiling a patient 51 with seven fours, coming in a shade under four hours at the crease, and faced 170 balls. Sriram had an able ally in his skipper Sharath, who played a patient innings. In fact at one stage he faced 46 balls to move from 2 to 3, while at the other end Sriram was doing the bulk of scoring. Sriram was pretty severe on India's one-day player Noel David collecting four of his twelve fours struck off him, the other bowlers to suffer were two fours each of Narenderapal Singh and Daniel Manohar, three off Venkatapthy Raju, and one off Santosh Yadav. At one stage Sriram struck Noel for three successive fours in the bowler's tenth over.

He was finally out fourteen minutes from stumps when he was given out lbw to Venkatapathy Raju. This was Raju's 200th victim in the Ranji Trophy. The other Hyderabad bowlers in the 200-wicket club are, ML Jaisimha (235 wickets), MVN Narashima Rao (218 wickets), and the most successful bowler to date Arshad Ayub (268 wickets).

Day 4 Report

The four-day Ranji Trophy Match between Hyderabad and Tamil Nadu ended in a draw. Resuming on the final day on 193-3, Tamil Nadu played through till the ninth mandatory over, when both captains decided to call off play with Tamil Nadu at 372 for 8 (in 174 overs, 690 minutes). Tamil Nadu lost a couple of early wickets at the start. First to go in the second over of he day, was Hemang Badani, caught at forward short-leg by Nanda Kishore off the bowling of Raju, next to go at the total of 216 was Vasu, taken smartly by first slip MV Sridhar off NP Singh's bowling with the second new ball taken immediately after 100 overs at score 215 for 4 wickets. Debutant Saravanan was out leg before to NP Singh for 5.

In the 150 minute pre-lunch session Tamil Nadu added 57 runs in 37 overs with Sharath on 41 (207 balls, 4X4). Upon resumption Mahesh was out, bowled by Noel David. Debutant wicket-keeper batsman TR Arasu joined his skipper and the pair remained unseperated at tea with the Tamil Nadu total at 330-7 in 159 overs. The was the best session of the match, producing 80 runs in 32 overs) Sharath on 92 (324 balls) and Arasu on 26 (72 balls).

Upon resumption after tea, Sharath cover-drove Noel David for four and picked-up a couple of singles each off Noel David and Kanwaljeet Singh to reach 98. In Noel's 30th over Sharath was at out caught at silly-point by Daniel Manohar. Sharath's marathon innings consumed five minutes under seven hours. He faced 337 balls and sent Kanwaljeet Singh/Narenderpal Singh four times each to the ropes and Venkatapathy Raju/Noel David twice each for fours. Sharath and Arasu added 89 runs for the eight wicket in 132 minutes and 34.4 overs. Arasu was on 30 when he lost the company of his captain and in the company of Venkataramana he completed his half-century (164m, 125 balls, 1x6, 5x4), lifting Noel David over mid-wicket for a huge six to move from 35 to 41, and from 46 to 50 with a lofted off-drive.

For the hosts Narenderpal Singh (28-11-67-3) and Venkatapathy Raju (40-15-65-2) and Noel David (34-7-83-2) bowled well. Tamil Nadu gained 5 points and Hyderabad gained 3 points from this encounter.