Bundela and Ali steady Madhya Pradesh ship

Off-spinner Kanwaljit Singh and left-arm spinner Venkatapathy Raju bowled a tight line and length but could not bring enough cheers to the Hyderabad camp.

Bundela preferred to play a waiting game while Ali showed signs of aggression occasionally. The left-hander twice cover-drove Kanwaljit to reach a well-deserved 50. MP were given a brisk start by the diminutive CP Sahu (33, 48 b, 7×4). In the morning, MP skipper Chandrakant Pandit had some more tricks in his bag. Much after dismissing overnight batsman Youraj Singh without any addition to the total of 237, with left-arm spinner Manish Majithia taking the wicket in thesecond over, Pandit gave the second new ball (100th over) to Majithia and off-spinner Rajesh Chauhan. The gamble paid off as MP spinners packed off Hyderabad tailenders quickly.

Scoreboard
Hyderabad (1st innings): Daniel Manohar c Chauhan b JP Yadav 9, VVS Laxman c Santosh Sahu b Lahore 84, Nanda Kishore c CP Sahu b Majithia 23, MV Sridhar b Sodhi 29, Vanka Pratap c Ali b Majithia 32, Vinay Kumar c Abbas b Lahore 12, Youraj Singh c CP Sahu b Majithia 14, R Sridhar c Pandit b Chauhan 36, V Raju not out 25, NP Singh c CP Sahu b Majithia 9, Kanwaljit Singh c Pandit b Chauhan 3. Extras (lb2, w1, nb1): 4. Total (in 112.2 overs): 280

Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-77, 3-141, 4-160, 5-187, 6-197, 7-237, 8-256, 9-277

Bowling: Sodhi 11-2-32-1, Chauhan 33.1-4-93-2, Yadav 16-3-50-1, Lahore 16-3-38-2, Majithia 35-6-56-4, Bundela 1-0-9-0

MP (1st innings): CP Sahu c Daniel b Kanwaljit 33, JP Yadav c MV Sridhar b Raju 19, Santosh Sahu c Youraj Singh c Youraj b Raju 12, DevenderBundela batting 48, Abbas Ali batting 54. Extras (lb2, nb4): 6. Total (for 3 wickets in 71 overs): 172

Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-57, 3-88

Bowling: NP Singh 11-5-19-0, Pratap 4-0-23-0, Kanwaljit 25-3-76-1, Raju 20-7-35-2, R Sridhar 9-5-8-0, Manohar 2-0-9-0.