Ranji Trophy: Akshath anchors Hyderabad's reply

P. Akshath Reddy played a captain’s innings of an unbeaten 86 (159 balls, 13x4, 2x6) to help Hyderabad finish the second day on a comfortable 146 for one in reply to Himachal Pradesh’s 351.

Hyderabad skipper P. Akshath Reddy scored an unbeaten 86 on the second day of the Ranji Trophy match against Himachal Pradesh.

It was the turn of P. Akshath Reddy to play the captain’s innings and he responded in style scoring an unbeaten 86 (159 balls, 13x4, 2x6) to help Hyderabad finish the second day on a comfortable 146 for one in reply to Himachal Pradesh’s 351 in the first innings in a Ranji Trophy Group-B league match at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Thursday.

Earlier, Himachal Pradesh, resuming at the overnight score of 231 for four, recovered from early blows from pacer Ravi Kiran to post a respectable 351.

Kiran struck twice in quick succession removing Sumeet Verma and Ekant Sen to leave Himachal struggling at 234/6.

As the day two unfolded

Then all-rounder Rishi Dhawan (38, 55 balls, 6x4) and Mayank Dagar (61, 110 balls, 9x4, 1x6) put on 66-run stand for the seventh wicket before Dhawan was gobbled up by wicketkeeper, trying to cut left-arm spinner Tanay Thyagarajan, who completed a creditable four-wicket haul.But, not before Mayank Dagar played a superbly-paced innings to prop the total.

Hyderabad openers Tanmay Agarwal and Akshath began on a confident note, putting on 85 runs, before the former was surprised by a short-pitched ball from pacer Pankaj Jaiswal only to fend it off awkwardly to be caught at gully.

Then, Akshath in the company of southpaw Rohit Rayudu ensured that the home team did not suffer any further blows, playing strokes with great freedom after surviving a testing spell from Arpit Guleria, who pitched the ball up to get some help from the pitch, to stay on course for a century.

The scores Himachal Pradesh - 1st innings: Priyanshu Khanduri c Sumanth b Ravi Kiran 59, Prashant Chopra c Mudassir b Thyagarajan 110, Ankush Bains c Sumanth b Mehdi 13, Nikhil Gangta b Ravi Teja 21, Sumeet Verma c Sumanth b Ravi Kiran 12, Ekant Sen b Ravi Kiran 5, Rishi Dhawan c Sumanth b Thyagarajan 38, Mayank Dagar b Mehdi 61, Pankaj Jaiswal b Thyagarajan 6, Gurvinder Singh c Himalay b Thyagarajan 0, Arpit Guleria not out 0. Extras: (b-1, lb-7, nb-17, 2-1) 26. Total: (all out in 126.4 overs) 351. Fall of wickets: 1-178, 2-199, 3-205, 4-231, 5-239, 6-241, 7-307, 8-313, 9-313, 10-351. Hyderabad bowling: Ravi Kiran 24-8-68-3, Mohammad Mudassir 19-3-54-0, Ravi Teja 18-2-68-1 Mehdi Hasan 28.4-8-67-2, Tanay Thyagarajan 37-13-86-4. Hyderabad - 1st innings: Tanmay Agarwal c Khanduri b Jaiswal 33, P. Akshath Reddy batting 86, K. Rohit Rayudu batting 18. Extras: (b-5, nb-2, w-2) 9. Total: (for one wicket in 51 overs) 146. Fall of wickets: 1-85. Himachal bowling: Pankaj Jaiswal 9-4-20-1, Rishi Dhawan 7-1-32-0, Arpit Guleria 13-5-20-0, Gurvinder Singh 9-3-30-0, Prashant Chopra 3-0-6-0, Mayank Dagar 9-1-31-0, Sumeet Verma 1-0-2-0.