Debutant left-arm spinner Tanay Thyagarajan struck three crucial blows to push Hyderabad closer to achieving its first objective of taking the first innings lead against Delhi, on the third day of the Ranji Trophy Group B match at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Thursday.
At close of play, Delhi was 245 for six in reply to Hyderabad's first innings score of 460.
Delhi recovered well after being 65 for two in the morning session, thanks to a 114-run stand between opener Hiten Dalal (93, 180b, 14 x 4, 1 x 6) and captain Nitish Rana (82, 179b, 9 x 4, 1 x 6) for the third wicket. The two posed serious challenge to the bowling attack which looked out of sorts when the batsmen were batting with freedom. The pacers bowled well early in the morning but without much luck, especially left-armer Chama Milind.
However, Thyagarajan, 23, who also looked pretty ordinary to start with, suddenly changed things around for Hyderabad before the tea break with emphasis being more on a decent line and length than on getting any turn off the pitch.
He first trapped a well-set Hiten lbw as the batsman lunged forward to miss the lind of the ball completely to be plumb in front of the wicket to make the scoreline read 179 for three. Then, he had Himmat Singh caught behind very soon.
Later, he dealt what could be the most crucial blow — removing the dangerous looking Rana, who tried to hit the bowler out of the firing line but merely ended up hitting straight to the fielder on the edge of the circle.
At the other end, another left-arm spinner Mehdi Hasan removed Anuj Rawat in the last over of the day, with the batsman failing to capitalise on a dropped chance when on five as first slip fielder Rohit Rayudu floored a regulation catch off pacer Ravi Teja.
Delhi still needs 215 runs to get the vital first innings lead.
Brief scores:
Hyderabad 1st innings: 460 vs Delhi 245 for six (Hiten Dalal 93, Nitish Rana 82, Lalit Yadav batting 9, Ravi Kiran 1-37, Tanay Thyagarajan 3-41)
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