NEWS
SCHEDULES
COLUMNS
PREVIOUS TOURS
OTHER SPORTS
STATISTICS
INTERVIEWS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

Hyderabad virtually through

Our Correspondent

Just one wicket remains in the way of Hyderabad making it to the Ranji Trophy final.

On Friday, the penultimate day of the five-day semi-final, they had champions Karnataka on the brink of defeat as the home side struggled to 523 for nine at the Chinnaswamy stadium before rain stopped play.

Dodda Ganesh on 51 and Mansoor Ali Khan, still to open his tally, were at the crease with Karnataka 188 runs behind Hyderabad's first innings total of 711 for eight declared.

34 minutes of play were washed out, with still 11.5 overs left to be bowled. The umpires called off the play around 16:45 hrs.

Vijay R Bharadwaj (90), Rowland Barrington (65), Sunil Joshi (72) and B Akhil (32) made a determined bid to chase the mammoth Hyderabad score but all their efforts came to nought because of some fine bowling by medium pacer Fiyaz Ahmed (3-114) and spinners Venkatapathy Raju (3-127) and Kanwaljeet Singh (3-127).

Resuming at 269 for two, Karnataka lost three quick wickets after skipper Azhaurddin took the second new ball, and from then on the challenge looked over though Sunil Joshi, with some lusty hitting, looked like making a fight of it.

Scoreboard

Hyderabad (1st innings): 711 for eight declared

Karnataka (1st innings):
J Arun Kumar c N Kishore b Kanwaljeet Singh 71
M Beerala c Azharuddin b Kanwaljeet Singh 74
R Barrington c Azharuddin b Fiaz Ahmed 65
V Bharadwaj c and b Venkatapathy Raju 90
V S Thilak Naidu c R Sheik b Fiaz Ahmed 3
A Vijay c R Sheik b Venkatapathy Raju 4
B Akhil c N Kishore b Venkatapathy Raju 32
S Joshi lbw b Fiaz Ahmed 72
D Ganesh batting 51
B K Venkatesh Prasad c Azharuddin b Kanwaljeet Singh 7
Mansoor Ali Khan batting 0
Extras (b-5, lb-12, nb-34, w-3) 54
Total 523
Fall of wickets: 1-163, 2-190, 3-302, 4-311, 5-336, 6-370, 7-421, 8-491, 9-508.
Bowling:
N P Singh 19-2-084-0, Fiaz Ahmed 21-1-114-3, Venkatapathy Raju 54-15-127-3, Parth Satwalkar 13-2-38-0, Kanwaljeet Singh 43.1-4-127-3, Mohd Azharuddin 3-0-16-0.

Day 3