Twin strikes dent Hyderabad as Chhattisgarh take first-innings lead at Gymkhana

On Wednesday at the Gymkhana in Hyderabad, Chhattisgarh claimed a first-innings lead in their Ranji Trophy match after scoring 254 in the second innings and setting Hyderabad 259 to win; Hyderabad closed day three on 13 for 2 at stumps.

Chhattisgarh had posted 284 in their first innings while Hyderabad replied with 280, leaving the visitors with a narrow deficit before the second innings. Hyderabad lasted only 3.1 overs on day three, adding five runs and thereby ceding the first-innings lead to Chhattisgarh.

Chhattisgarh began their second innings brightly as Ayush Pandey and Anuj Tiwary found the fence in each of the first three overs, but Rakshann Readdi removed Ayush and Aniketh had Anuj caught by Pragnay. After the drinks break Vikalp Tiwari fell to a backfoot punch that Varun Goud held at mid-off, leaving Chhattisgarh three down early.

Mayank Verma and Sanjeet Desai steadied the innings with a 115-run partnership; Mayank reached his half-century in 60 balls and Sanjeet in 121, before Tanay Thyagarajann broke the stand by dismissing Sanjeet for 51.

C.V. Milind introduced Abhirath Reddy, whose second delivery removed Prateek Yadav’s stumps, and shortly after Rakshann and Aniketh shared further wickets including Mayank, Ajay Mandal, Jayant Yadav and Amandeep Khare. Chhattisgarh extended their innings with a 55-run last-wicket stand to finish at 254 in 68.4 overs.

Hyderabad began the chase of 259 with Tanmay Agarwal and Abhirath Reddy, but Dev Aditya Singh dismissed Tanmay and Ruthik Yadav for ducks, leaving Hyderabad 13 for 2 after five overs with Abhirath on 8 and Rahul Radesh 3. Chhattisgarh’s second-innings bowling figures included Aditya 3-1-7-2, Dharmendrasinh 1-0-4-0 and Jayant 1-1-0-0.

The match stands with Chhattisgarh holding the first-innings lead and Hyderabad 13 for 2 at stumps while chasing 259; play will resume with Abhirath Reddy and Rahul Radesh at the crease.