Left-arm spinner Tanay Thyagarajan spun Hyderabad to a vital 91-run first innings lead against Andhra in their Ranji Trophy match at the DVR ground in Mulapadu, Vijayawada, on Monday.
At stumps on the second day, Hyderabad were 78 for two in 23 overs with southpaw Tanmay Agarwal batting on 49 off 72 balls with four boundaries.
Hyderabad, like in the first innings, had a solid opening stand of 71 between Tanmay and Abhirath Reddy (23). Out of the 20 wickets to fall in the game thus far, 17 were grabbed by spinners and Siraj was the only pacer to get a wicket.
Hence, Andhra skipper Ricky Bhui began the attack with his spinners Saurabh Kumar and Tripurana Vijay. However, the Hyderabad openers were more than ready for them. The duo went after the bowlers, especially Vijay, and kept the scoreboard ticking. Lalith Mohan too was unable to trouble the batters.
After a solid opening stand, Hyd concede ground to be all out for 275 against Andhra
Then Bhui turned to pacer Kavuri Saiteja, who delivered a double blow to slow down the Hyderabad pace. He trapped both Abhirath Reddy and G Rahul Singh (2) leg before to reduced Hyderabad to 78 for two to end the day with figures of two for four in three overs.
The visitors still have a handy 169 runs lead with eight wickets in hand and two days of play left to force a result. It more or less looks like a one-way traffic from here on as the hosts will have to come up with a herculean effort to salvage something from the game.
Earlier, left-arm spinner Tanay, who had taken eight wickets in Hyderabad’s innings win over Tripura last week, was back in his elements. He took five wickets and effected a run-out which turned the match on its head.
Resuming at their overnight score of nine without loss in two overs, the hosts suffered a big blow off the very first ball of the day. Hyderabad skipper and pacer Mohd Siraj cleaned up Abhishek Reddy (5) to unsettle the Andhra batting.
Tanay does the trick for Hyderabad
Tanay got into the act soon as he had the other opener Hemanth Reddy (10) caught behind by MS Pragnay Reddy and Andhra were 32 for two.
Shaik Rasheed and skipper Ricky Bhui then did the repair work as they stitched a 49-run partnership for the third wicket but Tanay was back in the thick of action. He ran out Ricky, who made 28 off 56 balls with here fours, and Andhra did not recover from this breakthrough.
Shaik Rasheed was trapped leg before by Tanay and Andhra were down on their knees. Rasheed topscored with 61 off 114 balls with eight boundaries. Sreeram Rahul and K Revanth Reddy failed to recreate the magic that they did against Karnataka.
Revanth Reddy (12) was bowled by Tanay and left-arm spinner G Aniketh Reddy trapped Rahul (27) leg before. Tanay added salt to the injury as he castled Saurabh Kumar (1) to leave Andhra tottering at 149 for seven.
KV Sasikanth (14) fell soon thereafter as he was trapped leg before by Tanay. Lalith Mohan (0) did not trouble the scorers as he was bowled by Aniketh Reddy. However, Tripurana Vijay and Kavuri Saiteja (0) added 19 runs for the last wicket before Saiteja was run out by Himateja to end the innings. Andhra made 184 in 63 overs with Vijay unbeaten on 25 off 27 balls with a four and three sixes.
Tanay finished with figures of five for 63, while Aniketh Reddy got two for 60. Siraj took one for 31.
Brief scores: Hyderabad 275 & 78 for two in 23 overs (Tanmay Agarwal 49 batting, Abhirath Reddy 23; K Saiteja 2/4) vs Andhra 184 in 63 overs (Shaik Rasheed 61, Ricky Bhui 28, Sreeram Rahul 27, Tripurana Vijay 25 not out; Tanay Thyagarajan 5/63, G Aniketh Reddy 2/60).
