Southpaw Rohit Rayudu crafted a responsible, unbeaten 90 (197 b, 8x4, 1x6) and put on a crucial 132-run stand for the fourth wicket with Chandan Sahani to ensure Hyderabad finished the first day at a comfortable 247 for four against Delhi in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Tuesday.
Electing to bat, Hyderabad was off to a cautious start with captain and opener Tanmay Agarwal (23, 71b, 3x4) and wicketkeeper-batter Rahul Radesh (41, 102b, 4x4) putting on 55 runs for the first wicket in 22.1 overs before the former nicked one from pacer Pranshu Vijayran to second slip fielder Himmat Singh in the 23rd over to make it 55 for one.
It was a testing time for the Hyderabad batters in the morning session as the Delhi pace trio of Harshit Rana, Divij Mehra and Vijayran repeatedly beat the batters on the off-stump but were unlucky not to get the breakthroughs. Even Radesh looked out of sorts every time he was to face the teasing line on off-stump.
At lunch, Hyderabad was sitting pretty at 81 for one in 34 overs but in the third over after lunch, Mehra struck twice – first forcing both Radesh and K. Nitesh Reddy (0) to snick away-going deliveries to wicketkeeper Anuj Rawat – to reduce the home team to 90 for three.
Just when it looked whether Hyderabad would struggle again in batting, Rayudu and the more aggressive Chandan Sahani (67, 126b, 5x4, 3x6) put on the century stand showing the desired character and discipline which kept the bowlers at bay.
And, as has been the case this season, Chandan when looking good for a big score – swung off-spinner Hrithik Shokeen straight to mid-wicket to allow Delhi to come back into the game in the 17th over after tea.
However, Rayudu was batting with a lot of confidence at the other end, though he often irritated the Delhi camp with constant stoppages, moving away from the crease when the bowlers had already started their run-ups.
The way Rayudu stepped out to loft spinner Lalit Yadav over long-on and then leaned into an elegant straight drive off Rana, the signs looked good for the host and ominous for Delhi.
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