da betcris： The day was simply divided into two parts
Anand Vasu22-Apr-2000The day was simply divided into two parts. Everything that happened upto tea, and the post tea session. In another light, the period duringwhich Hyderabad harboured hopes of a miraculous victory and the periodafter they decided it was a lost cause. Whichever way one looks at it,Mumbai were moving in for the kill at the end of the day in the RanjiTrophy final at the Wankhede stadium on Saturday. Hyderabad havenothing to play for from their position of 251/7.Hyderabad batted with determination. That’s the bottom line. Thoughthere has been ample talk about how they have absolutely no hopewhatsoever in this game and that they don’t have the big guns in theirbatting line up. That might very well be true. However, what must begranted is that they went through to lunch losing just one wicket.Nandakishore was the only casualty when he was undone by a wellpitched delivery from Ajit Agarkar. Bowling with good pace, Agarkarmanaged to trap the opener in just the fourth over of the day. Hisopening spell of 5-2-7-1 had the crowd roaring in anticipation of aHyderabad collapse.However, Daniel Manohar and VVS Laxman refused to be cowed down. AbeyKuruvilla opening the bowling in his last match did his jobefficiently. He took the ball for a longer spell than most expected,finishing with 9-1-24-0. Daniel Manohar was circumspect to start with,leaving the ball well. He knew exactly where his off stump was andforced the bowlers to bring the ball closer to the stumps.Laxman was in a rich vein of form. Though he chose to be more carefulthan usual, Laxman played some exquisite strokes in his stay at thecrease. When the ball was short he was in position quickly, neverafraid to take the aerial route while pulling. His drives through theoff side lit up the eyes of the Hyderabad dressing room and put atleast a sliver of uncertainty in the minds of the Mumbai team.When Laxman edged a ball from Kuruvilla straight to Sachin Tendulkarat slip he had just six runs to his name. The ball came to Tendulkarat a comfortable height, went straight to his hands and poppedout. For someone who is usually a safe catcher at first slip it was abad miss.After lunch, more good batting by Hyderabad saw them solidify theirposition. Laxman and Manohar seemed to have understood the situationrather well. Manohar made a brilliant century on debut againstKarnataka three years ago and since has failed to impress. Though helooks good out in the middle he simply does not have the scores toback him up.Laxman made most of the runs in the partnership, being the more fluentof the two batsmen. The Hyderabad dressing room was on its feet whenhe brought up his century off 161 balls. His knock included two bigsixes against spinner Rajesh Pawar in addition to 12 boundaries. Bothsixes were effortlessly struck from the crease, all timing.Keeping to mediumpacers all day Samir Dighe took a fair thumping. Inthe 46th over of the day, Ajit Agarkar’s 11th, Dighe was struckparticularly hard and winced in pain. From the confines of the pressbox, it appeared as though Dighe had split the webbing on his lefthand. Vinod Kambli who had fielded exceptionally well all day, donnedthe gloves.At tea, Hyderabad were proceeding steadily on with 194/1 on theboard. Manohar was on a patient unbeaten 66 while Laxman had 111 tohis name. After tea however, Hyderabad lost their waycompletely. Hampered by the fact that Mohammed Azharuddin could batonly after five wickets had fallen, Hyderabad succumbed meekly. Azharwas off the field most of yesterday with an injury to his thigh andthis meant that he could only come in late in the order.Laxman, resuming on his tea score of 111, skied a catch to substitutefielder Amit Dani. Nelson had struck again. There was little hope forHyderabad after Laxman was dismissed and this showed in their approachto batting. Laxman had been positive while being guarded and this gavethe batsmen some confidence. His demise brought Vanka Pratap to thecrease.Manohar, who had battled hard for over 300 minutes, fell to the spinof Rajesh Pawar. The left armer bowled Manohar when he was on 71. Atthis stage, Hyderabad were 202/3 and still relatively wellplaced. However, the batsmen who followed showed no convictionwhatsoever. This reflected clearly on the scorecard as Hyderabadslipped to 240/7.Even the experienced Azharuddin could do precious little. Playing aforward defensive stroke to Pawar, Azhar ended up ballooning a catchto the fielder under the helmet at silly mid off.At the end of the day, Hyderabad were tottering and there is verylittle left for Mumbai to do but drive the nails into the Hyderabadcoffin.