Hyderabad, Dec. 11: Hyderabad remained where many a city cricket aficionado had feared it would after crashing to a lowly score of 21 on November 3, the first day of the Ranji Trophy season — in the Plate division.

Thirty eight days, five matches and a few pressing changes later, the two-time Ranji champions improved upon their disastrous start but ended fourth on the six-team Group ‘A’ table and were out of reckoning for a place in the Elite group.

Thirty eight was also the number of overs possible on Saturday, the final day of their last league match against Madhya Pradesh, courtesy the soggy outfield at Gymkhana ground. Hyderabad resumed at 168 for 4 and reached 286 for 6 before the players agreed to walk off it. The MP men were smiling. The lone point from the drawn encounter took their tally to 16 and placed them second on the table. They will now face Andhra, which topped Group ‘B’, in the semifinal. The winner will be promoted to Elite group in 2011.

Hyderabad have their Plate full, and will have to swim in the bottom pool for another year, against the tide. It’s time the powers that be at the Hyderabad Cricket Association took some bold decisions and mend old ways.

They bowed to pressure after the ‘21-gun salute’ and blooded some ambitious youngsters in B. Sandeep and G.H. Vihari (thanks to former batting coach Vivek Jaisimha’s no-holds barred barrage of brickbats) but will discover that much more needs to be done.

Sandeep reposed faith by topping the batting charts with an aggregate of 287 in four innings at an impressive average of 71.75. In the process, the 18-year-old became only the fifth Hyderabadi in 76 years to hit a century on debut. This left-hander was just about right.

Vihari too has done well, averaging 33.25, more than the captain and most of the other recognised batsmen. Eternal performer Ahmed Quadri and Ibrahim Khaleel took the second and third spots on the batting chart.

Hyderabad’s bare bowling cupboard stood embarrassingly exposed when only three bowlers could take more than 10 wickets — Kaneshkk Naidu (16), Alfred Absolem (15) and A. Lalit Mohan (10).

A strong bowling line-up continues to elude the team. The search may be on but unless the league structure and standard improves, it will remain a mirage.

The HCA will also have to overcome the tough task of keeping politics out of sport — established opener T. Suman being ignored for the entire season being a distasteful example.

The humiliation at home, even as the national selectors had picked him for one of the sides for the Challenger Trophy — thought to be the pool that supplies India’s second string — definitely dented the promising batsman’s confidence.

BCCI’s senior selection committee chairman Krish Srikkanth too expressed his displeasure over the treatment being meted out to Suman while in the city to witness the India-New Zealand Test held in Hyderabad after a gap of 22 years, but to no avail.

Hyderabad and Vidarbha are the only two of the 10 Test-staging cricket associations out of the Elite division. Can they pass the domestic test? One year is a long enough time to plan, prepare, perform and prove that they truly belong to the top bracket.

Scoreboard

Madhya Pradesh 1st innings 422 for 4 declared
Hyderabad 1st innings (overnight 168 for 4): B. Sandeep b Anand Rajan 30, Ahmed Quadri c Mishra b Abbas Ali 68, Ibrahim Khaleel not out 34, Paramveer Singh not out 16. Extras (b-6, lb-2, nb-5) 13. Total (6 wickets; 95 overs) 286.

Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-16, 3-94, 4-159, 5-177, 6-265.

Bowling: T.P. Sudhindra 13-3-32-1, Amit Sharma 17-2-48-1, Anand Rajan 12-2-46-1, Ankit Sharma 24-6-60-1, Jalaj Saxena 25-5-79-1, Abbas Ali 4-0-13-1.

Season sheet

Batting averages

Player M I Runs HS Ave 100 50

B. Sandeep 4 4 287 144 71.75 1 1
Ahmed Quadri 5 6 283 76 47.16 0 4
Ibrahim Khaleel 5 6 222 141 44.40 1 0
G.H. Vihari 4 4 133 81 33.25 0 1
D.B. Ravi Teja 5 6 183 126 30.50 1 0
P. Shashank Nag 4 4 111 68 27.75 0 1
Akshath Reddy 5 6 154 70 25.66 0 1

(tabulated as player, matches, innings, runs, highest score, average, centuries, half-centuries)

Bowling averages

Player M O R W BBI Ave

Kaneshkk Naidu 5 137.0 376 16 4/36 23.50
Alfred Absolem 5 148.2 490 15 5/78 32.66
Lalith Mohan 4 152.1 402 10 3/124 40.20
D.B. Ravi Teja 5 47.5 110 5 5/20 22.00
M.A. Khader 2 40.4 157 4 3/87 39.25
Ahmed Quadri 5 75.0 265 2 1/8 132.50

(tabulated as player, matches, overs, runs, wickets, best bowling in innings, average)

Pic Caption:
Players of the Hyderabad Ranji Trophy team look distraught after their last league match against Madhya Pradesh ended in a draw on Saturday.