Date:25/11/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/11/25/stories/2007112556711600.htm

Sport - Cricket

Williams, Azhar sparkle

Principal Correspondent

— Photo: K. Ramesh Babu

WELL DONE: The Baroda players celebrate the dismissal of Hyderabad’s Anoop Pai on the second day of the Ranji Trophy match in Hyderabad on Saturday.

HYDERABAD: The Baroda captain Connor Williams and Azhar Bilakhia demonstrated the efficacy of stroke selection on a pitch which was still batsman-friendly as they helped their team to a commanding score of 191 for two after bowling out Hyderabad for 261 on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Super League match at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium (Uppal) here on Saturday.

It was a terrible display by the Hyderabad batsmen in the morning session. Once the new ball was taken by Baroda with the score reading 238 for four, Irfan Pathan and Sunit Singh came up with lively spells.

No batsman could handle the quality bowling of Irfan, who dismissed Amol Shinde and Habib Ahmed in successive overs to reduce Hyderabad from a healthy 237 for four to 246 for six.

At the other end, Sunit Singh forced the well-set Anoop Pai (62, 188 balls, 3x4) to snick into the wicketkeeper’s gloves.

In the space of nine overs with the new ball, Irfan Pathan and Sunit Singh conceded just 23 runs and shared six wickets. On Saturday, Irfan’s spell read 5-1-10-3 and Sunit returned with 4.2-1-12-3.

Good stand

To demonstrate that there was very little in the pitch, the Baroda top-order displayed better cricketing sense, not going for any extravagant strokes. Treating the bowling on its merit, Connor Williams (91 batting, 221 balls, 7x4, 1x6) and Azhar Bilakhia (68, 135 balls, 7x4) put on 132 runs for the second wicket to push the host into a defensive mode.

Bilakhia was particularly impressive with some wonderful off-side strokes. In the company of Bilakhia, Williams too shrugged off early blues to come up with some wonderful shots.

Just when the two looked good to see Baroda through the day, left-arm spinner Ojha struck when Anoop Pai snapped up a sharp catch at silly-point to send back the dangerous-looking Azhar Bilakhia. But the breakthrough came a bit too late as Baroda is now sitting pretty (with eight wickets in hand) to grab the vital first innings lead.

The scores:

Hyderabad — 1st innings: S. Daniel Manohar c & b Rajesh Pawar 71, D.B. Ravi Teja c P. Shah b I. Pathan 72, S. Anoop Pai c P. Shah b Sunit Singh 62, M. Ahmed Shakeer c P. Shah b R. Pawar 17, N. Arjun Yadav c P. Shah b Y. Pathan 6, A. Shinde b I. Pathan 11, Habib Ahmed b I. Pathan 0, P. Ojha (not out) 2, S.M. Shoaib c I. Pathan b Sunit Singh 1, Ashwin Yadadv lbw b I. Pathan 0, A. Lalit Mohan b Sunit Singh 5; Extras: (lb-9, nb-1, w-4) 14. Total (in 103.2 overs): 261.

Fall of wickets: 1-131, 2-180, 3-208, 4-217, 5-238, 6-246, 7-253, 8-255, 9-256.

Baroda bowling: I. Pathan 25-4-71-4, Sunit 16.2-3-39-3, Chauhan 5-1-17-0, Pawar 27-8-55-2, Y. Pathan 28-6-69-1, Panchal 2-1-1-0.

Baroda — 1st innings: C. Williams (batting) 91, S. Parab c A. Shinde b P. Ojha 24, Azhar Bilakhia c Anoop Pai b P. Ojha 68, R. Solanki (batting) 6; Extras (lb-2): 2. Total (for two wkts. in 75 overs) 191.

Fall of wickets: 1-46, 2-178.

Hyderabad bowling: Shoaib 8-3-21-0, Ashwin 12-2-40-0, Lalit 22-5-59-0, Ojha 26-7-49-2, Shinde 7-2-20-0.