Southpaw Rohit Rayudu crafted a responsible, unbeaten 90 (197 b, 8×4, 1×6) and put on a crucial 132-run stand for the fourth wicket with Chandan Sahani to ensure Hyderabad finished the first day at a comfortable 247 for four against Delhi in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Tuesday.
Electing to bat, Hyderabad was off to a cautious start with captain and opener Tanmay Agarwal (23, 71b, 3×4) and wicketkeeper-batter Rahul Radesh (41, 102b, 4×4) putting on 55 runs for the first wicket in 22.1 overs before the former nicked one from pacer Pranshu Vijayran to second slip fielder Himmat Singh in the 23rd over to make it 55 for one.
It was a testing time for the Hyderabad batters in the morning session as the Delhi pace trio of Harshit Rana, Divij Mehra and Vijayran repeatedly beat the batters on the off-stump but were unlucky not to get the breakthroughs. Even Radesh looked out of sorts every time he was to face the teasing line on off-stump.
At lunch, Hyderabad was sitting pretty at 81 for one in 34 overs but in the third over after lunch, Mehra struck twice – first forcing both Radesh and K. Nitesh Reddy (0) is set to pitch away to wicketkeeper Anuj Rawat – reducing the home side to 3-90.
When Hyderabad appeared to be struggling again in the batting, Rayudu and the more attacking Chandan Sahani (67, 126b, 5×4, 3×6) were placed in the stand of the century, showing desirable character and discipline to keep the bowlers at bay. I was.
And as was the case this season, Chandan, looking good after a big result, sent off-spinner Hrithik Shokeen straight into the middle of the wicket to allow Delhi to return to play after 17 overs of tea. I swung down from
But on the other side, Rayudu struck with plenty of confidence when the bowlers had already started their run-up.
The way Rayudu exits Longon’s loft via his spinner, Lalit Yadav, and leans into his drive on an elegant straight out of Lana looked good for the hosts, but ominous for Delhi It looked like