Seasoned opener Tanmay Agarwal played a brilliant innings and missed the rare feat of scoring a century in each innings by five runs as Hyderabad forced a draw against Andhra on the fourth and final day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Saturday.
Andhra showed no inclination to push for any dramatic win on a pitch which was batter-friendly on the last day too. Andhra’s innings lasted just five balls today.
In the second essay, Hyderabad’s objective was to enforce a draw and it did that comfortably thanks to the first century stand between openers Tanmay and Abhirath Reddy this season.
Tanmay was at his best with the bat, playing an unusually aggressive knock and at one stage looked set to reach the three-figure mark before the lunch break.
READ | Ranji Trophy Points Table after Round 5
The way he stepped out to treat the spinners or laid back to play that authentic pull off the pacers was a pleasing sight.
No doubt, the opener, who scored 159 in the first innings, survived two very close calls for lbw against off-spinner Tripurana Vijay in the 15th over of the innings.
But for that, Tanmay batted in a different zone.
Just when he looked set for the three-figure mark, a visibly frustrated Tanmay (95, 110b, 10x4, 3x6), because of the negative bowling by Andhra pacers, couldn’t resist the temptation to chase a wide ball on off-stump and snicked it to wicketkeeper Srikar Bharat off pacer Mohd Rafi.
Later, with Abhirath (70 not out, 140b, 5x4) showing no urgency to score and with no scope for any result, the two captains Hanuma Vihari of Andhra and Rahul Singh of Hyderabad decided to call off play 30 minutes before the tea break.
Andhra now has four points from five games while Hyderabad nine from a similar number of matches.
Comments
SHARE