Hyderabad buries itself deep

By Sharda Ugra

MUMBAI, APRIL 20. Whatever the Mumbai cricket team has for tea, it obviously works like high-octane fuel. After two sessions of ups and downs on day two of the Ranji Trophy final against Hyderabad, Mumbai came on to the field and swept the opposition like a high tide. The home team has now taken a 181-run lead with Mumbai dismissing Hyderabad to 195 at the stroke of stumps at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday.

Hyderabad, in pursuit of Mumbai's first innings total of 376, lost its last six wickets in the final session of play. The batsmen cobbled together 67 runs, but it was an effort devoid of any self-belief. In part that had to do with Ajit Agarkar's discovery of his length, and some assistance from the breeze coming in from the sea from one end, and left-arm spinner's Rajesh Pawar's unchanged 18-over spell of control and flight from the other. Pawar finished with three for 44 from 20 overs.

Skipper Mohammad Azharuddin (76, 139b, 6x4, 1x6) played a lone hand after the only partnership which could have threatened Mumbai's peace of mind was broken by a tragic run out. V.V.S. Laxman came in with the Hyderabad innings wobbling dangerously and the elegant No. 3 set it right as easily as he could steady a rocking chair. With skipper Azharuddin joining him at seven for two, Laxman opened up the scoring making light of Mumbai's four- man medium-pace attack.

In the second session, Mumbai's bowlers used the short pitched ball as a stock rather than shock delivery, and the two Hyderabadi stylists had no difficulty either getting out of the way or tapping the ball down. Coach Ashok Mankad said Mumbai had banked on patience to see them through in the second session, but the barrage of wasteful short balls spoke more of the bowlers' impatience to bounce out two very experienced batsmen. Azhar and Laxman put on 89 in even time, Laxman handling the fast bowlers with a swashbuckling range of shots.

Mumbai looked set on the road to a long haul before it was presented with Laxman's wicket on a platter. A firm straight drive off Azharuddin hit Mhambrey's hand on the follow-through and rolled away from the bowler. Called for a run that could have existed only if Mhambrey decided to tie his shoe laces before going towards the ball, Laxman set off and was out at the striker's end.

The only consolation for Laxman (46, 62b, 8x4), as he began the long walk back to the pavilion, was the fact that he had broken the record for the highest runs scored in a Ranji Trophy season. When he glided Abey Kuruvilla through the slips to the fence to get to his 20s, Laxman also crossed Vijay Bharadwaj's record of 1281 runs. Laxman has now crossed the 1300- run mark, thanks to seven centuries this season, including a century in both innings against U.P. and a triple hundred against Karnataka.

The fizz left the Hyderabad innings along with Laxman, and Pawar stepped in prising out Vanka Pratap quickly and Parth Satwalkar after he had put on 56 with his captain. Agarkar, returning from the far end after tea, made the ball lift and swing, removing Riaz Shaikh and finally Kanwaljit Singh in a tight five-over post-tea spell to finish with three for 26.

Santosh Saxena, hurling yorkers, picked up two wickets, the first Azharuddin, caught one-handed and full stretch by wicketkeeper Sameer Dighe and followed by Fiaz Ahmed.

In the morning, Hyderabad prolonged its own agonies by giving Paras Mhambrey a third life when on 41 in the second over of the day. Fiaz Ahmed, who beat Mhambrey twice in his opening over, got an edge from Mhambrey only to have Raju put the ball down in the slips.

Unbeaten overnight, Mhambrey went on to score 75 keeping the lower order together - the last four men scoring 93, with 73 coming today. Mhambrey was the ninth batsman to be dismissed, his middle stump sent clattering over by an arm ball from Raju (four for 110) again the best of the Hyderabad bowlers today.

At the end of the day Mumbai coach Mankad paid what could be considered mere lip service to the `vagaries' of cricket by stating that the match was far from over as there were still three days to go. But his satisfaction would not allow him to conclude without cranking up the temperature a little more, when talking about the third day.

``If we play well tomorrow, we can then close the file.'' If Hyderabad players want to keep it open by force, they will have to play cricket with hearts the size of their closed dressing- room door.

The scores:

Mumbai-1st innings: Sameer Dighe c Azharuddin b Fiaz Ahmed 3, Wasim Jaffer c Raju b N.P. Singh 32, Jatin Paranjpe lbw b Fiaz Ahmed 10, Sachin Tendulkar c Riaz Shaikh b Raju 53, Vinod Kambli c & b Fiaz Ahmed 108, Amol Muzumdar c Satwalkar b Raju 13, Paras Mhambrey b Raju 75, Ajit Agarkar lbw b N.P. Singh 30, Rajesh Pawar c Riaz Shaikh b N.P. Singh 0, Abey Kuruvilla (not out) 5, Santosh Saxena c Riaz Shaikh b Raju 5. Extras (b-8, lb-12, w-5, nb-17) 42. Total: 376.

Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-51, 3-72, 4- 176, 5-202, 6-283, 7-343, 8-343, 9-370.

Hyderabad bowling: N.P. Singh 21-6-74-3, Fiaz Ahmed 22-2-73-3, Venkatapathy Raju 37.2-11-110-4, Parth Satwalkar 9-3-28-0, Vanka Pratap 2-1-8-0, Kanwaljit Singh 22-0-63-0.

Hyderabad-1st innings: Daniel Manohar c Pawar b Agarkar 6, A. Nanda Kishore c Tendulkar b Kuruvilla 0, V.V.S. Laxman (run out) 46, Mohammad Azharuddin c Dighe b Saxena 76, Vanka Pratap c Dighe b Pawar 8, Parth Satwalkar c Saxena b Pawar 30, Riaz Shaikh c Tendulkar b Agarkar 11, Fiaz Ahmed b Saxena 0, Venkatapathy Raju c Saxena b Pawar 6, N.P. Singh (not out) 1, Kanwaljit Singh b Agarkar 0. Extras (lb-4, w-1, nb-6) 11. Total 195.

Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-7, 3-96, 4-110, 5-166, 6-178, 7-186, 8- 192, 9-194.

Mumbai bowling: Ajit Agarkar 14.4-3-26- 3, Abey Kuruvilla 8-0-37- 1, Santosh Saxena 13-1-46-2, Paras Mhambrey 8-1-38-0, Rajesh Pawar 20-5-44-3, Sachin Tendulkar 1-1-0-0.

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