Hyderabad crawl towards mount 616

Hyderabad finished day three of their Ranji Trophy group C encounter at 290 for four,still over 300 runs behind Maharashtra’s mammoth 616 first innings total at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Saturday.

At stumps,Hyderabad had Hanuma Vihari batting on 39 off 98 balls,along with Syed Quadri on five off 30. Resuming at 53 for no loss,the opening pair of Tirumalasetti Suman and Akshath Reddy added 21 runs before Suman was caught by Maharashtra captain Rohit Motwani off Akshay Darekar. Suman’s dismissal brought Dwarka Ravi Teja to the crease and in the company of Hyderabad skipper Reddy the pair put on 137 runs. Reddy fell to the part-time off-spin of Chirag Khurana,while Ravi Teja was run out,two short of a century. Bodapati Sandeep was dismissed for just one run by Darekar. Hyderabad need to overhaul the 326-run first innings deficit on the fourth and final day.

Darekar,who had scalped 14 wickets in the match,the last time Maharashtra played Hyderabad,was the pick of the bowlers. The left-arm spinner finished day three with figures of two for 78 off his 34 overs.

Maharashtra’s 616 runs were largely due to a stellar double century by Kedar Jadhav. The 28-year-old cracked a strokeful 204,lacing his knock with 29 boundaries and one six. Earlier,opener Harshad Khadiwale hit his 11th first class ton and his second successive century,stringing a 206-run partnership with Jadhav. Skipper Rohit Motwani also got in on the act as he recorded his third first class century. On a flat Hyderabad pitch,Sangram Atitkar chipped in with a strokeful 98,helping Maharashtra to a very formidable total.