Bavanaka Sandeep scored a fighting century to help Hyderabad recover from a jittery start as they trailed Kerala by 286 runs on the penultimate day of their Ranji Trophy group C match at KIIT Cricket Stadium today.
In response to Kerala's 517/9 declared, Kerala were tottering at 82/4 when Sandeep revived their innings with a 72-run fifth wicket partnership with K Sumanth (22) before Akash Bandhari's 40 lifted them past 200.
At stumps, Hyderabad were 231/7 still trailing by 286 runs with Mehdi Hasan (26 batting) and Chama Milind (4) at the crease.
He struck five boundaries en route to his patient half century from 143 balls but could not make it big and became left-arm spinner Karaparambil Monish's (2/53) second victim.
Seamer Sandeep Warrier, off-spinning allrounder Jalaj Saxena, also returned with two apiece.
Warrier dismissed opener Tanmay Agarwal in the second ball of the day as Hyderabad were 0/1.
Saxena then joined in the act to trap Balchander Anirudh (30) lbw to break his 59-run partnership with Akshat Reddy (37).
Hyderabad top order batsmen failed to get going and got out at regular intervals before Sandeep showed the way.
Earlier Kerala added 11 runs to their overnight total and batted for one over before declaring after 181 overs with Iqbal Abdulla remaining 159 not out.
Brief Scores: Kerala 517/9 decalred; 181 overs (Iqbal Abdulla 159 not out).
Hyderabad 231/7; 87 overs (Bavanaka Sandeep 53, Akash Bhandari 40).
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
