The Gymkhana is a happy hunting ground for Hyderabad batters. On January 11 way back in 1994, Hyderabad’s batters achieved a feat that had never been achieved before. Hyderabad had piled up a mammoth 944 for 6 declared on this very ground. The total still remains the highest total ever posted in Indian First-class cricket.
https://khelkhiladis.com/hyderabad-batters-historic-record-still-unmatched/
On Saturday, 31 years after that historic feat, Hyderabad batters went on yet another batting marathon, though it was not as fantastic as the earlier one but still it brought back wonderful memories of those bygone days when Hyderabad batters loved to dominate the bowlers.
Hyderabad batters piled up the runs to reach 631 with three of them scoring centuries. After Abhirath Reddy and K Himateja on Friday, it was the turn of wicketkeeper-batter M Sai Pragnay Reddy to put the Chhattisgarh attack to the sword.
This is Hyderabad’s fourth highest total in First-class cricket. After the 944 for six declared, they had scored 711 for eight declared against Kerala in 1999-2000 and 699 against Assam in 2012-13. Their other top totals are: 615 for four declared against Sikkim in 2023-24 and 565 against Gujarat in 2024-25.
Resuming at their overnight score of 415 for four, Hyderabad went on and on. Himateja, who was on 125 the previous night, continued in the same vein. He and Pragnay, who resumed at 52, went after the bowlers.
The morning conditions were of not much use to the visitors as the Hyderabad batters negotiated the conditions. Himateja was the first to fall after 20 overs of play as he was stumped by Mayank Verma off Aditya Sarvate after making 171 off 258 balls with 18 fours and a six. His partnership with Pragnay for the fifth wicket was worth 285 which came off 240 balls. Pragyan had contributed 95 and Himateja got 85.
After Himateja’s departure, Pragnay took charge of the proceedings. He added 49 for the sixth wicket with Tanay Thyagarajan, who struck a quickfire 32 off 28 balls.
Md Siraj (10), G Anikethreddy (3) fell quickly, and Pragnay joined them in the form of the ninth wicket. By that time, Hyderabad were two short of the 600-run mark. Pragyan made 126 off 184 balls with 14 fours and four sixes.
Rakshann Readdi (23 not out) and B Punnaiah (12) shared a 33-run partnershp for the last wicket which took Hyderabad to 631 before Punnaih fell.
Hyderabad’s 348-run first innings lead was like a millstone around Chhattisgarh batters’ neck. To make matters worse, the Hyderabad pacers went for the kill. Rakshann struck the first blow in the 15th over as he had opener Ayush Pandey (24) caught behind by Pragnay with the score reading 41.
The following over, Siraj struck by having No.3 bat Sanjeet Desai (0) caught by Aman Rao. But Anuj Tiwary and skipper Amandeep Khare put their heads down to see their side through the rest of the post-tea session without any further damage.
Chhattisgarh reached 100 for two in 39 overs and are still trailing by 248 runs. Anuj was batting on 47 off 97 balls with seven hits to the fence and Amandeep was on 25 off 74 balls with three hits to the boundary.
Chhattisgarh have a task on their hand on the final day as Hyderabad bowlers have all the time and runs on hand to play the waiting game.
SCOREBOARD
Chhattisgarh (1st innings): 283
Hyderabad (1st innings, overnight 415/4 in 105 overs): Aman Rao c Aditya Singh b A Sarvate 52, Abhirath Reddy c Mayank Verma b Ayush Pandey 121, Rahul Singh G c Mayank Verma b Aditya Singh 39, Himateja K st Mayank Verma b Sarvate 171, Rahul Radesh b Ravi Kiran 18, Pragnay Reddy c Aditya Singh b Sanjeet Desai 126, Tanay Thyagarajan c Ravi Kiran b Aditya Singh 32, Md Siraj c sub (Sourabh Majumdar) b Sahban Khan 10, G Aniketh Reddy c Mayank Verma b Sahban Kan 3, C Rakshan Readdi (not out) 23, B Punnaih st Mayank Verma b Ayush Pandey 12; Extras: (W8, B9, LB7) 24. Total: (All out in 154 overs) 631.
Fall of wickets: 1-96, 2-142, 3-289, 4-324, 5-509, 6-558, 7-575, 8-590, 9-598.
Bowling: Ravi Kiran 24-1-117-1, Aditya Sarvate 36.5-6-132-2, Aditya Singh 24-3-108-2, Sahban Khan 45.1-2-172-2, Ayush Pandey 14-2-53-2, Praneeth Yadav 5-0-17-0, Sanjeet Desai 5-2-16-1.
Chhattisgarh (2nd innings): Ayush Pandey c Pragnay b Rakshann 24, Anuj Tiwary (batting) 47, Sanjeet Desai c Aman Rao b Siraj 0, Amandeep Khare (batting) 25; Extras: (NB1, LB3) 4. Total: (For two wickets in 39 overs) 100.
Fall of wickets: 1-41, 2-42.
Bowling: Mohd Siraj 7-2-13-1, Tanay Thyagarajan 13-2-34-0, G Anikethreddy 12-1-35-0, C Rakshann Readdi 5-3-5-1, Himateja K 2-0-10-0.
