Ajay Rohera was in a spot of bother only when he struggled to remove his helmet to celebrate a truly impressive double century. The 21-year-old Madhya Pradesh batsman struck an unbeaten 255 (331b, 20x4, 5x6) and in the company of century maker Yash Dubey (128 batting, 219b, 17x4, 2x6) put on 261 runs for the fifth wicket, which for all practical purpose has shut Hyderabad out of the four-day Ranji Trophy Group B league match at the Holkar Stadium here on Saturday.
Madhya Pradesh scored an imposing 539 for four in reply to Hyderabad’s 124 in the first innings.
Making his Ranji Trophy debut, Rohera showed great temperament and wonderful stroke-selection. The sight of this brilliant batsman walking down a few times to calm down his partners, including captain Naman Ojha, spoke of his confidence.
Early warning
Rohera served a warning early in the morning with a flowing cover drive and a flick to the fence off pacer Mohammad Mudassar. Once he found the groove, Rohera was rarely troubled.
Importantly, Rohera showed no nerves at all. He picked two boundaries off pacer Ravi Kiran to reach his 100, on 199 pulled Mudassir over fine-leg for a six and then crossed the 250-mark with a huge six off part-timer Tanmay Agarwal. All strokes of real authority.
To the delight of the home team, Rohera found an admirable foil in Yash Dubey, who also came up with a chanceless century — he too reached it in style with a straight six off left-arm spinner Tanay Thyagarajan.
Mute spectators
The two batted so well that in the final session, on a pitch which had nothing for the bowlers, the drooping shoulders of Hyderabad’s players was a sorry sight. They were mute spectators, literally.
Strangely, Hyderabad’s pace trio couldn’t take advantage even of the early morning moisture in which Avesh Khan was so menacing on Thursday.
The left-arm spin duo of Thyagarajan and Mehdi Hasan clearly lacked variations on this track. Even substitute wicketkeeper K.S.K. Chaitanya, in for the regular K Sumanth (down with back spasm), disappointed with his poor anticipation.
The scores
Hyderabad 1st innings: 124.
Madhya Pradesh 1st innings: Aryaman Birla b Thyagarajan 32, Ajay Rohera (batting) 255, Rajat Patidar c sub b Mudassir 51, Naman Ojha c Thyagarajan c Ravi Kiran 28, Shubham Sharma lbw b Ravi Kiran 13, Yash Dubey (batting) 128; Extras (nb-9, b-18, lb-5): 32; Total (for four wickets in 136 overs): 539.
Fall of wickets: 1-68, 2-181, 3-262, 4-278.
Hyderabad bowling: Ravi Kiran 30-3-103-2, Mudassir 20-3-102-1, Ravi Teja 22-1-92-0, Thyagarajan 33-4-110-1, Mehdi Hasan 25-1-75-0, Rohit Rayudu 2-0-14-0, Sandeep 2-0-10-0, Tanmay 2-0-10-0.
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