Hosts face run rush at Keenan - Hyderabad makes solid start at CK Nayudu trophy tie

A Hyderabad batsman plays a shot during the opening day of the Col CK Nayudu Trophy Group B match against Jharkhand at Keenan Stadium on Friday. (Bhola Prasad)

The Jharkhand bowlers toiled hard while their Hyderabad opponents made merry on the batting friendly pitch of Jamshedpur’s Keenan Stadium on Day One of the Col CK Nayudu Trophy (U-25) Group B match.

The Hyderabadi players, who looked solid from the start of the match, came up with answers to everything the state players had to throw at them, piling 274 runs by the end of the day with the loss of just three wickets.

Openers N.S. Lingala and S.S. Kolla gave the southern team the perfect start sharing a 165 run first wicket stand and raising hopes of a big first innings score.

Both Lingala and Kolla kept the Jharkhand attack at bay till well after the lunch break, punishing the bad balls and raising their half centuries in the process.

While Lingala looked to anchor the innings scoring 78 runs (176 balls, 7x4) Kolla looked to be the enterprising one punching 12 boundaries en route to his 87 (197 balls).

Though, the Jharkhand new ball bowlers — Ashish Kumar and Prakash Seet — ran in hard and gave it their best they just could not get past the defenses of the Hyderabadi openers, who kept milking runs at will.

It was Abhijeet Khare in the end, who got the state the much-wanted breakthrough, trapping Lingala plumb before the wicket.

Kolla too lost his concentration soon after and was castled by an Ashad Fahad delivery that held its line.

However, the Jharkhand players could not make their twin strikes count and let the two new batsmen — P.J. Jhala and S.P. Bavanaka — settle down into a good rhythm. The two went on to stitch an 81 run partnership for the third wicket, stealing cheeky singles and finding the ropes occasionally to keep the scoreboard ticking.

It was Keshav Kumar’s off spin that again worked the trick, trapping Bavanaka plumb in front for 42 runs to give Jharkhand it’s third breakthrough.

At the end of the day’s play Jhala held guard for Hyderabad on an unbeaten 39 with B.J. Benjamin at the other end having helped himself to four runs.

Meanwhile, the Jharkhand colts beat Tripura by five wickets at the Vinoo Mankad Trophy zonal league one-day match at Assam’s Tinsukia on Friday. Chasing a target of 200 (49.3 overs) posted by Tripura, the Jharkhand players never panicked and attained the target in merely 38.1 overs.

Skipper Vishal Singh struck a quick fire run-a-ball 61 while Shaseem Rathour scored a healthy 71 (65 balls) to help the state drub Tripura.