Hyderabad skipper Mohd Siraj’s four-wicket haul helped his side restrict Chhattisgarh to a modest 283 on the opening day of their four-day Ranji Trophy match at the Gymkhana in Secunderabad on Thursday.
At stumps on the first day, Hyderabad were 56 for no loss in 15 overs with openers P Aman Rao batting on 32 off 53 balls with four fours and a six and giving him company was M Abhirath Reddy on 23 off 37 balls with four boundaries. Hyderabad still need 227 with all their wickets in hand for the first innings lead.
After being thrashed by Mumbai in a nine-wicket loss, Hyderabad bounced back admirably with the skipper leading from the front.
Chhattisgarh skipper Amandeep Khare won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first but the move backfired as Opener Ayush Pandey (11) was run out by G Aniketh Reddy with 16 on the board.
Siraj then struck twice in quick succession to rock the Chhattigarh boat. He had AG Tiwary (4) caught by Pragnay Reddy and then trapped Sajeet Desai (1) leg before to leave the visitors tottering at 21 for three.
Things went bad for Chhattisgarh as Amandeep (16) fell to Himateja and Mayank Verma was caught and bowled by Aniketh Reddy to leave them 58 for five.
However, Vikalp Tiwari and Prateek Yadav stemmed the rot with a 183-run partnership for the sixth wicket which lifted Chhattisgarh’s spirits. The runs came off 210 balls with Prateek being the more aggressive of the duo. He made 106 off 99 balls as he struck the Hyderabad bowlers to all parts of the fence. Vikalp contributed 70 of the partnership.
Tanay Thyagarajan got Hyderabad the much-needed breakthrough as he had Prateek caught by Himateja. Prateek struck 10 fours and four sixes in his knock.
Two balls later, Vikalp was caught by Abhirath Reddy off Siraj for 94 which came off 143 balls with 13 fours.
The Chhattisgarh innings soon folded up as they were bowled out for 283. Siraj took four for 56 and Rakshan Readdi got two for 28.
Brief scores: Chhattisgarh 283 in 72.3 overs (Vikalp Tiwari 94, Prateek Yadav 106, Mohd Siraj 4/56, Rakshann Readi 2/28) vs Hyderabad 56/0 in 15 overs (Aman Rao 32 batting, Abhirath Reddy 23 batting).
