Azhar, Laxman punish Karnataka

Karnataka’s skipper Venkatesh Prasad called right this morning, but astonishingly offered first use of the strip to Hyderabad. In the hot and humid conditions, the pitch was bone dry and the presence of grass, if anything, only helped bind it wonderfully well. It was a batting paradise for sure as later events proved.

Still, Karnataka could have got away with the woefully wrong decision if only their fielders had done their job. But that was not to be.

Prasad provided the early breakthrough by having Nanda Kishore snared at second slip. He came back for a second spell before lunch and had Daniel Manohar caught behind. But after that it was Hyderabad’s day.

The upright Laxman, with two successive centuries under his belt, batted with immense confidence. He made just one mistake when he mistimed an on-drive off Sunil Joshi. But the simple, straight-forward, chest-high catch was floored at mid-on by Rowland Barington. Laxman was then 30 in the side’s total of 89. He made Karnataka rue that lapse for the rest of the day.

Laxman, a lovely timer of the ball, drove superbly off either foot. He pulled the short-pitched wares of the medium pacers to show that he was adept at both top hand and bottom handed strokes.

At the other end, Mohammed Azharuddin who was given a rousing welcome to the crease, batted with great concentration. The trade mark Azharuddin strokes were absent in the first phase of his innings when he stuck to just grinding the attack. Uncharacteristically he took 151 minutes to reach his first 50.

During this period he gave two chances. On the first occasion, when on 16, Prasad squared him up with a beauty but B Akhil at second slip floored the snick. Later, with Azharuddin on 41, Mansoor Ali Khan sprinkled a few short-pitched deliveries and had him edging to Vijaya Bharadwaj at second slip, but the latter could not hold on to the chance. The very next delivery Azharuddin slashed and the ball just eluded Bharadwaj.

But after these the Hyderabad master batsman waded into the attack and held sway with some of his favourite shots. The flick to mid-wicket, and the drive square of the wicket were played with all the considerable elegance at his command. He raced to his second fifty in just 74 minutes, the last few runs coming off the second new ball.

Laxman (163 batting; 358 mins, 264 balls, 25 fours, 1 six) and Azharuddin (103 batting; 245 mins, 181 balls, 14 fours) have already added 253 runs for the third wicket, surpassing the previous best of 208 between Vijay Mohan Raj and Narasimha Rao in 1979-80. Unless Karnataka come up with the right answers early on the morrow, this match looks as good as Hyderabad’s.

Prasad bowled with guile and control, but the other three medium pacers disappointed. Spinner Sunil Joshi found little purchase on the first day pitch.

Scoreboard

Hyderabad (1st innings): Daniel Manohar c Thilak b Prasad 39, Nandakishore c Bharadwaj b Prasad 12, VVS Laxman (batting) 163, Azharuddin (batting) 103; Extras: (nb22, w3, lb1) 28
Total (for 4 wickets in 90 overs, 397 minutes) 344
Fall of wickets: 1-24; 2-91

Bowling: Venkatesh Prasad 21-6-53-2; Dodda Ganesh 21-0-89-0 (11nb); Mansoor Ali Khan 14-2-66-0 (8nb, 2w); Sunil Joshi 23-5-83-0; B Akhil 4-0-26-0 (1w); Bharadwaj 7-0-24-0 (3nb).