da apostaganha： A plucky century from Test discard VVS Laxman lifted Hyderabad to amodest 246/8 on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy quarter finalmatch against Uttar Pradesh at the Green Park in Kanpur
Sankhya Krishnan30-Mar-2000A plucky century from Test discard VVS Laxman lifted Hyderabad to amodest 246/8 on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy quarter finalmatch against Uttar Pradesh at the Green Park in Kanpur. Medium pacerRatnesh Mishra did the star turn for UP with a bag of four wickets for23 runs that pulled the rug from under the Hyderabad lower middleorder. In the absence of Mohd. Azharuddin, who’s made 605 runs forHyderabad in the Ranji Trophy this season at an average of over 86, itwas down to Laxman to salvage Hyderabad’s honour after the rest of thebatsmen around him failed to support his disciplined approach.Opener Nandakishore was snapped up by Ashish Zaidi for 3 in the fifthover and his partner Daniel Manohar was snared by Mishra for asparkling but ephemeral 28, inclusive of six boundaries, to leave thescore at 36/2. Laxman and Vanka Pratap then put on 56 for the thirdwicket in just under 24 overs before Pratap was trapped in front ofthe wicket by the 19 year old left arm seamer, Sallabh Srivastava.Another partnership of 71 followed between Laxman and Vinay Kumar butthe latter was castled by Mohd. Kaif for 24 (62 balls, 5 fours) andHyderabad were now down to 163/5. UP captain Gyanendra Pandey then gotinto the act, bowling Parth Satwalkar for 10 for his only wicket ofthe innings. All the while, Laxman was playing a lone hand, reachinghis fifty from 123 balls with four fours. Hyderabad’s 200 came up inthe 68th over but Ratnesh Mishra cleaned up the lower order, disposingNA Yadav, wicket keeper R Sheikh and captain Venkatapahy Raju oneafter the other.Laxman posted his fourth century of the season from 187 balls and 301minutes, with ten fours and a six. Hyderabad opening bowler NP Singhwas keeping Laxman company at stumps as the visitors limped to 246/8in 90 overs with only Kanwaljit Singh still to bat. Laxman wasundefeated on 118 in 242 balls with 12 hits to the fence and one overit to take his aggregate for the season to over 500 at an average ofclose to three figures.