Raju, Ghouse leave Goa in perilous state

Veteran left arm spinner Venkatapathy Raju and youthful mediumpacer Mohd. Ghouse had Goa struggling at 174/9 as hosts Hyderabad took control of the South Zone Ranji Trophy league match at the National Fuel Complex ground in Hyderabad on Thursday. Earlier in the morning Hyderabad had terminated its first innings at 315 after the tail was allowed to wag generously.

Resuming at 247/7, Shivaji Yadav was dismissed off the day's fourth ball without adding to his overnight score of 39. This brought Ghouse (25) and Raju (24 not out), later to enact a lead role with the ball, together in a brief supporting role with the bat. The former fell at 273 after which last man NP Singh struck a breezy 23 in the course of a last wicket stand of 46 in just over nine overs. Seamer Aware added two more wickets to his tally to finish with 5/92.

Goa openers YC Barde and Satyajit Medappa got off to a fine start, putting on 64 for the first wicket before left arm seamer Ghouse struck first blood, removing the former. Off spinner Shivaji Yadav now got into the act, striking twice in successive overs, one of his victims being Medappa who eventually topscored with 36. Ghouse followed up with the prize wicket of skipper Pravin Amre who disappointed again, failing to reach double figures in a brief stay at the wicket.

Raju proceeded to slice through the lower middle order, grabbing four of the next five wickets as Goa closed out the day at 174/9, still 145 behind. He finished with 4/15 in 16 probing overs while Ghouse pitched in with 3/38.