Gujarat in driver's seat against Hyderabad in Ranji tie

Hyderabad, Dec 11 (UNI) Niraj Patel put Gujarat in a commanding position in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group-B match against Hyderabad at the end of the penultimate day's play today.

After gaining a crucial 201 run lead, Gujarat declared their first innings at 406 for the loss of nine wickets, 40 minutes after lunch.

Host Hyderabad did not help their cause, losing two wickets for 63 runs when stumps were drawn for the day.

25-year-old southpaw Niraj Patel slammed a career best knock of 173 off 317 balls, that included 18 hits to the fence.

Niraj finally got out to a fine catch by Rayudu off left-arm spinner Ojha but the damage was already done by then. B D Thaker (56 off 136 balls, 3x4, 1x6) and Timil Patel (36 off 66 balls, 3x4) were the other notable contributors while all others failed to impress with the bat.

Among the Hyderabad bowlers, left-arm spinners Pragyan Ojha (4/136) and Inder Sekhar Reddy (4/95) shone with the ball.

Score Board: Hyderabad 1st innings 205 all out Gujarat 1st innings: Modi c Vinay Kumar b PIS Reddy 17 AA Bilakhia c Suman b Yadav 72 NK Patel c Rayudu b Ojha 173 Thaker st Khaleel b PIS Reddy 56 PA Patel c Khaleel b Ojha 6 TK Patel st Khaleel b Ojha 36 Watekar c Vinay Kumar b Ojha 7 AM Makda b PIS Reddy 2 JT Makla not out 13 Majmudar lbw b PIS Reddy 0 A Singh not out 11 Extras (b 8, lb 2, nb 3) 13 Total (9 wickets decl; 146 overs) 406 Fall of wickets1-35, 2-176, 3-277, 4-302, 5-365, 6-372, 7-380, 8-382, 9-382.

Bowling : NP Singh 12-4-34-0, PK Reddy 29-7-91-0, P Ojha 54-10-136-4, PIS Reddy 37-6-95-4, TS Suman 2-1-3-0, AS Yadav 9-1-28-1, DB Ravi Teja 3-0-9-0.

Hyderabad 2nd innings TS Suman c PA Patel b Majmudar 7 Ravi Teja (batting) 27 Anirudh Singh c Makla b TK Patel 22 AT Rayudu (batting) 0 Extras (lb 3, nb 4) 7 Total (2 wickets; 34 overs) 63 Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-62.

Bowling : AM Makda 10-3-15-0, HA Majmudar 6-1-12-1, A Singh 8-1-15-0, JT Makla 4-1-13-0, TK Patel 4-3-4-1, HH Watekar 2-1-1-0.

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