Laxman century enables Hyderabad to draw match on final day

The Karnataka - Hyderabad encounter petered out to a tame draw on the fourth and final day at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium at Bangalore. When 'play' was called, openers Daniel Manohar and Nandakishore were at the crease with 9 and 0 respectively. Having been forced the ignominy of a follow on, Hyderabad showed that their batting had more stuff than was on display in their first essay. Manohar, who grafted well, was caught at forward short leg off the bowling of Sunil Joshi just one run short of his fifty. This brought Ranji Trophy star VVS Laxman to the crease.

The day belonged to the him, and he celebrated his recall to the Indian team by scoring an unbeaten century. In the previous season, Laxman made over a thousand runs in the Ranji Trophy. His innings of 100 not out (159 balls, 11 fours, 1 six) helped Hyderabad reach 233 at stumps. In the meantime, Nandakishore was snared by Anand Yalvigi for 43. Vanka Pratap (26 not out) and Laxman (100 not out) saved Hyderabad the blushes.