Hyderabad in driver's seat in Ranji tie against Mumbai

Hyderabad, Dec 19 (UNI) Hyderabad's Alfred Absolem struck three crucial blows to reduce the Mumbai team to 108 runs for three in the second innings to help the host team gain the upper hand after amassing a huge first innings lead of 239 runs in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group-B match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium here today.

Mumbai began their second innings on a defensive note and lost three quick wickets in the space of 27 runs.

Right-arm medium pacer Alfred Absolem broke the back of the Mumbai team, snapping up all the three wickets to fall in their second innings.

Vinayak Mane, however, applied himself and stayed put at the wicket to remain unbeaten on 33 runs off 138 balls for more than three hours. Rohit Sharma is giving him company with 33 runs scored off 80 balls and studded with five hits to the fence.

Hyderabad's first innings came to an end at 354 in 161.2 overs, half an hour after lunch on day three with Ramesh Powar completing a seven-wicket haul. The stocky Mumbai off-spinner could not better his best first class cricket performance of 7/44, but the offie grabbed ball the five Hyderabad wickets to fall in day three.

The day, however, belonged to 28-year-old Hyderabadi middle order batsman Devisetty Vinay Kumar, who completed his fifth first class century. Resuming at overnight score of 64, he added 39 runs before being bowled out by Powar. He grafted for little over six hours at the crease and made 103 off 228 balls, studded with ten hits to the fence and sent one over the ropes.

Vinay Kumar added 126 valuble runs for the sixth wicket in the company of his overnight partner Ibrahim Khaleel, who was the first to go after making 68 off 165 balls with three boundaries.

Score Board : Mumbai 1st Innings 115 all out Hyderabad 1st innings Suman c Mota b Hazare 6 Ravi Teja c Muzumdar b Waingankar 45 Shashank Nag c Muzumdar b Powar 36 Anirudh Singh c Sharma b Powar 21 Arjun Yadav lbw b Hazare 29 Vinay Kumar b Powar 103 Khaleel c Muzumdar b Powar 68 MP Arjun c Mota b Powar 05 Absolem c Sharma b Powar 16 Kaushik Reddy b Powar 13 Prgyan Ojha (not out) 00 Extras (b 2, lb 2, w 3, pen 5) 12 Total (all out in 161.2 overs) 354 Fall of wickets1-20, 2-73, 3-110, 4-133, 5-174, 6-300, 7-308, 8-340, 9-345.

Bowling : SP Hazare 35-14-70-2, Waingankar 25-4-63-1, WA Mota 20-5-34-0, RR Powar 41.2-9-89-7, NM Kulkarni 33-11-61-0, BJ Thakkar 3-0-10-0, NS Shetty 2-1-11-0, AA Muzumdar 1-0-3-0, VR Mane 1-0-4-0.

Mumbai 2nd Innings :- VR Mane (batting) 33 SR Marathe lbw b Absolem 16 Bhavin Thakkar c&b Absolem 03 Muzumdar lbw b Absolem 09 Rohit Sharma (batting) 33 Extras (byes-8, lb1, wides-5) 14 Total (for 3 wickets in 45 overs)108 Fall of Wickets: 1-35, 2-44, 3-62..

Bowling: Kaushik Reddy 10-4-19-0, MP Arjun 8-3-12-0, Alfred Absolem 10-0-36-3, Pragyan Ojha 14-6-20-0, Arjun Yadav 2-0-4-0, Raviteja 1-0-8-0.

UNI XR SAM VV1816