Captain Hanuma Vihari and Tanmay Agarwal struck an unbeaten century each and put on a 217-run partnership for the second wicket as Hyderabad gave a strong reply against Himachal Pradesh's mammoth first innings total on the third and penultimate day of their Ranji Trophy cricket match here today.
Vihari and opener Tanmay returned unconquered on 138 and 105 respectively to take Hyderabad to 297 for 1 at the draw of stumps in reply to Himachal's first innings score of 511 all out at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Uppal.
Hyderabad still trail by 214 runs with nine first innings wickets in hand.
The home team started the day 36 for 0, and lost their first wicket in the 35th over when Vikramjeet Malik had Akshath Reddy (48) caught by Rashmi Parida. That was the only success HP tasted, as Tanmay and Vihari kept their bowlers out for the next 71.2 overs, while scoring at just over three runs an over.
Over the course of their partnership, both Vihari and Tanmay brought up their third hundreds of the season. Vihari was the dominant partner, his unbeaten 138 coming off 229 balls with 19 fours and a six, while Tanmay hit 14 fours from the 303 balls he faced, to end the day batting on 105.
