Hyderabad struggle for runs

It was generally a struggle for Hyderabad to get runs on the opening day of their Coca Cola Trophy (under-25) tournament game against Tamil Nadu at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Tuesday. Winning the toss, Hyderabad, off 91 overs, scored only 242 for eight at stumps.

Hyderabad were on the backfoot right from the time they lost openers Karthik Ramaswamy (1) and JRK Yadav (0) with only two runs scored. Both the wickets were taken by opening bowler Ravinder John. Sanjay Patel (51) and the captain Anirudh Singh (89) however put the innings back on track with a third wicket stand of 136 runs off 48.5 overs. The other opening bowler Srinivas however rocked Hyderabad again by dismissing Patel and Radhakrishna off successive deliveries. Patel who faced 177 deliveries hit only four boundaries in a rather sedate knock.

Anirudh and Joy Prakash (19) performed a bit of a rescue act by adding 51 runs for the fifth wicket off 14.2 overs before the captain finally fell to the last ball of the 72nd over after having come in midway through the second over. Anirudh batted 275 minutes, faced 196 balls and hit 14 fours and a six during his gallant innings. Wickets then fell at regular intervals but Amresh played with gay abandon and by close was unbeaten with 38 off 55 balls. His innings included three fours and two sixes. Ravinder John and Shrinivas had only those two wickets to show for their efforts while spinner Raghuram was the most successful bowler with three for 38.