Akshath misses ton by a run; Teja shines

Hyderabad, Nov. 30: Hyderabad captain P. Akshath Reddy was unfortunate to miss his century by a run on Friday, the third day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group ‘B’ match against Himachal Pradesh being played here.

Akshath fell for an agonising 99, trapped leg before wicket by Arpit Guleria. His knock came off 192 balls and included 15 boundaries and two sixes.

In-form batsman T. Ravi Teja made 75 and B. Sandeep contributed 50 as Hyderabad took a crucial one-run lead over Himachal’s first innings score of 351 before being all out.

In another Group ‘B’ match, off-spinner Writtick Bijoy Chatterjee bowled Bengal back into contention against Tamil Nadu with a five-wicket haul at the M A Chidambaram stadium.

Trailing by 74 runs in the first innings, Chatterjee’s 5 for 22 helped Bengal dismiss Tamil Nadu for 141, leaving the visitors a target of 216 to secure their first win of the season. Chatterjee removed the first innings centurion Baba Aparajith (21) and N Jagadeesan (38) while fellow spinner Pradipta Pramanik dismissed captain B. Indrajith (4).

Some late order resistance by J. Kousik (10) and M. Mohammed (23 not out) helped the home team stretch the lead. Bengal began the chase cautiously with left-handed opener Abhishek Kumar Raman, who made 98 in the first knock and Kousik Ghosh (13) seeing off the early threat from T. Natarajan and Mohammed.

Rahil Shah struck the first blow, getting Ghosh caught by Indrajith. Abhishek Raman and captain Manoj Tiwari (13 batting) added 35 runs before the former fell.