da wazamba： Hyderabad: The South Zone Ranji Trophy match between Hyderabad andAndhra ended in a tame draw here yesterday with the hosts failing tobowl out the visitors a second time
Blessington Thomas19-Nov-1999Hyderabad: The South Zone Ranji Trophy match between Hyderabad andAndhra ended in a tame draw here yesterday with the hosts failing tobowl out the visitors a second time.In a fine batting display on the final day, Hyderabad extended its onerun lead to 130 after batting for 99 minutes off 21.1 overs before thedeclaration was made.The overnight not out batsmen were in different gear altogethertoday. Showing urgency the most prolific Hyderabad batsman in recenttimes MV Sridhar in association with his overnight partner VankaPratap batted freely in piling up runs to register the third centurypartnership of the innings. When Sridhar was caught at extra-cover byAmit Pathak, Hyderabad declared its innings closed at 510 for six witha lead of 130 runs.Hyderabad had an outside chance to bowl the opposition out in aminimum of 67 overs inclusive of 15 mandatory overs. Andhra began itssecond essay cautiously only to see Venkatapathi Raju coming on tobowl the eighth over over of the innings replacing VVS Laxman whoshared the new ball with Narenderpal Singh, making inroads when hebowled skipper Amit Pathak who tried to cut a low incoming ball onlyto edge it on to his stumps.After a 41-run stand between Reddy and Nagini Kumar [13] for the 2ndwicket Andhra lost the former. He tried to play across on to theon-side off a Raju delivery that again kept low. Umpire Ramchandranhad no hesitation in declaring Reddy out leg before. Reddy had sweptRaju for a six to the square-leg area. Nagini Kumar also was out insimilar fashion, the bowler being Kanwaljeet Singh, coming on for hissecond spell.Andhra at tea were 84 for 3 in 33 overs. Venugopala Rao and R V ChPrasad were unseperated at the start of the 15 mandatory overs. In the13th and 14th overs both the batsmen were back in the pavilion.Hyderabad bowled 16 overs in the last hour but to no avail. Had thehosts batted positively on the third day, the result of the matchcould have been different. Andhra closed at 141 for five.Hyderabad garnered 5 points, while Andhra had to remain content with 3points. In the next match Hyderabad will play Kerala in Kerala, whileAndhra will play Goa at home.