Riding on half-centuries from M. Abhirath Reddy (85) and Rohit Rayudu (74 batting), Hyderabad ended the opening day of the Buchi Babu final at 288 for six against Chhattisgarh at the NPR College Ground here on Sunday.
Electing to bat, Hyderabad started strongly, thanks to a positive approach from openers Abhirath and Tanmay Agarwal, as the duo stitched a 67-run partnership at a brisk pace.
On a slow surface where Chhattisgarh employed only one pacer, Abhirath went after the spinners, employing the sweep shots to find five quick hits to the fence.
Though the tweakers got the ball to spin a fair amount, the batters had time to adjust and play their shots without risk.
Left-arm spinner Gagandeep Singh gave Chhattisgarh the breakthrough when he got one to turn sharply into Tanmay to trap him in front. Soon after, off-spinner Shashank Tiwari removed skipper Rahul Singh, chipping one to short-midwicket.
Abhirath then shunned his expansive strokeplay and, alongside Rohit, got the innings back on track during their 87-run alliance.
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Once he reached his half-century, Abhirath stepped up a gear and found the boundaries easily again, including a maximum over long-on. However, against the run of play, he pulled a half-tracker from offie Mohammad Irfan to the square-leg fielder, falling 15 short of his ton.
Chhattisgarh then got on top with two more wickets, reducing the southern team to 198 for five. But Rohit and Rahul Ridesh (48) kept the spinners at bay, adding 79 runs for the sixth wicket before the latter was dismissed two overs prior to stumps.
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