Hyderabad reach 167/3 on Day 2 vs Mumbai in Ranji quarters

Raipur, Dec 24 (IANS) Riding on opener Tanmay Agarwal's unbeaten 63, Hyderabad ended the second day at 167/3 to trail by 127 runs in their Ranji Trophy cricket quarter-final tie against Mumbai here on Saturday.

At stumps, Agarwal and middle-order batsman Bavanaka Sandeep (10) were at the crease as veteran all-rounder Abhishek Nayar pulled things back for Mumbai with three wickets at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium here.

Earlier, resuming the day at 250/5, Mumbai lost their remaining five wickets in only 12 overs and could only add 44 runs to their overnight total.

Middle-order batsman Siddhesh Lad, who was unbeaten on 101 on Friday, could add only 9 runs to his score before falling to pacer Ravi Kiran.

Nayar (59), who was unbeaten on 46 with Lad, started well to bring up his half-century but soon departed after being trapped by medium pacer Chama Milind.

Mumbai's lower order crumbled under the pressure as Shardul Thakur (10) and Akshay Girap (0) perished cheaply leaving the defending champions at a precarious 290/9.

Tailenders Tushar Deshpande (4) and Vijay Gohil (0 not out) hardly disturbed the scorers as Hyderabad pace duo of Milind and Mohammed Siraj grabbed five and four wickets respectively in the first innings.

In response, Hyderabad got off to a poor start with opener Akshath Reddy (13) and one-down Balchander Anirudh (4) perishing cheaply as Nayar struck twice in quick succession.

While Akshath edged one to wicketkeeper Aditya Tare, Anirudh edged the ball to Suryakumar Yadav at slips to leave Hyderabad at 30/2.

Coming in at No.4, skipper Subramaniam Badrinath (56) bailed Hyderabad out with a patient half-century. The veteran right-hander added 105 runs for the third wicket with Agarwal before becoming Nayar's third victim of the day.

Thereafter, Agarwal and Sandeep batted cautiously to take Hyderabad to 167/3 at the close of play.

Brief Scores: Mumbai 294 (Siddhesh Lad 110, Aditya Tare 73, Chama Milind 5/80, Md Siraj 4/64) vs Hyderabad (Tanmay Agarwal 63 not out, S. Badrinath 56, Abhishek Nayar 3/26)

--IANS

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