Hyderabad dismiss Mumbai for 115

Hyderabad, Dec 17 (UNI) Hyderabad began their quest for a win on a strong note dismissing Mumbai for a paltry 115 and making 66 for the loss of one wicket in the Ranji Trophy elite group-B match at Rajiv Gandhi International stadium here today.

Hyderabad skipper Anirudh Singh, invited the tourists to bat first which, proved to be a good decision as they dismissed 36-times champions Mumbai for 115 runs.

This was Mumbai's lowest ever score against Hyderabad.

Debutant medium pacer Munagala Praneet Arjun was the pick of the Hyderabad bowlers taking four vital wickets for 21 runs, while Alfred Absolem took three for 38 and left arm spinner Pragyan Ojha took two for 21. It was P Kaushik Reddy, who first dealt a blow to Mumbai removing Vinajay Mane, who caught by wicket-keeper Ibrahim Khaleel with his third ball of the third over. Two overs later debutant M P Arjun bowled left hander Sushant Marathe.

Mumbai were shocked with the scoreboard reading zero for two wickets. But more shocks were in store for them, with first change bowler Alfred Absolem removing Rohit Sharma, who was promoted in the batting order, for nine runs. The dismissal left Mumbai tottering at 26 for three in 19.3 overs.

Skipper Amol Majumdar and Bhavin Thakkar then tried to repaired the innings but departed after adding 22 runs with Absolem striking once again to remove the former after he made the highest individual score (26) for Mumbai.

Bhavin Thakkar, with the help of Nishit Shetty, tried to consolidate Mumbai innings but departed after adding 19 runs, with left arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, the strike bowler for Hyderabad, happing Nishit plumb in front of the wicket.

Having lost half the side for just 67 runs in 37.3 overs, Mumbaikars were in deep trouble. Bhavin Thakkar once again tried to streamline their innings in the company of Ramesh Powar, but was caught by Shashank Nag off Arjun. Bhavin made 21 facing 81 balls with two hits to the fence.

Once M P Arjun removed Ramesh Powar for 15, others failed to resist Hyderabad bowlers, except W A Mota, who remained not out on 18 off 51 balls, which included three hits to the fence. Mumbai folded their first innings at 115 runs with seven extended overs into tea.

Later, Hyderabad also lost opener Suman but their innings were steadied with D B Raviteja (39) and Shashank Nag (14) playing sensible innings.

MORE UNI XR ROY PM GC1908