VADODARA: Hyderabad started the third day of their Ranji Trophy 2016-17 game against Jammu and Kashmir with a surprising decision not to enforce a follow-on, but ended it predictably on the verge of their third consecutive outright win.
By stumps on Thursday, J&K were battling for life at 41 for 4, chasing an improbable 404 for victory. Nightwatchman Ram Dayal (6) and Aditya Singh (0) were in the middle.
Hyderabad had earlier bowled them out for 169 before declaring on 244 for 2 themselves, courtesy Tanmay Agarwal’s second century (103*) of the match. S Badrinath (66) and Akshath Reddy (53) also scored half-centuries as Hyderabad scored in excess of four runs an over without much fuss.
When play started, J&K were 156 for 7 and needed 23 more runs to avoid the follow-on. They added only 13 and were cleaned up in 9.3 overs as Hyderabad’s pacers ran through the tail.
Ram Dayal and Samiullah Beigh, the overnight pair, held on for J&K in the first six overs of the day, but Mohammad Siraj and Chama Milind bagged the remaining wickets with some accurate bowling to give Hyderabad a lead of 159.
Once the initial breakthrough was done, Ravi Kiran took over, having Shubham Khajuria edge behind and trapping Pranav Gupta leg before to leave J&K reeling at 29 for 3. To make it worse, Ian Dev Singh too joined the procession, driving loosely and nicking Mohammad Siraj to the wicketkeeper at the stroke of stumps.
Hyderabad (India) 1st innings 328/10
Jammu & Kashmir 1st innings 169/10
Hyderabad (India) 2nd innings
TD Agarwal not out 103
PA Reddy lbw b Parvez Rasool 53
S Badrinath* c †Bisht b Beigh 66
Extras 22
Total 244/ 2 dec
Jammu & Kashmir 2nd innings
SP Khajuria c †Sumanth b Ravi Kiran 04
AO Bandy c Badrinath b Milind 16
Pranav Gupta lbw b Ravi Kiran 01
ID Singh c †Sumanth b Mohammed Siraj 13
R Dayal not out 06
AP Singh not out 00
Extras 02
Total 42/4