Dec. 9: Monish Mishra, for whom Hyderabad is home during the Indian Premier League, dealt a severe body blow to the hosts by blasting an unbeaten double century to boost Madhya Pradesh’s total in the Ranji Trophy Plate division league match at the Gymkhana ground here on Thursday.
Hyderabad’s only cheer came on the fourth ball of the innings when opener Jalaj Saxena was bowled by Alfred Absolem. Thereafter, it was MP all the way.
Monish mauled the hapless Hyderabad bowlers to slam 25 boundaries and four sixes during his six-hour-40-minute stay at the crease to remain unconquered on 206 as MP ended the second day at a strong 354 for 2. With the first day’s play lost due to bad weather, Hyderabad, who need to win this four-dayer by at least an innings or 10 wickets, are on the backfoot.
Monish put his best foot forward though. The Deccan Chargers batsman put on 162 runs for the second wicket with Naman Ojha (59) and was involved in an unbroken stand of 191 with captain Devendra Bundela (85 n.o) for the third wicket.
The 26-year-old paced his innings well, bringing up his century in 115 balls before slowing down to take 96 balls to move from 100 to 150, and then switching gears again to rattle the fourth 50 in just 56 balls to leave Hyderabad gasping.
Scoreboard
Madhya Pradesh first innings: Naman Ojha c Basheer b Paramveer Singh 59, Jalaj Saxena b Alfred Absolem 0, Monish Mishra batting 206, Devendra Bundela batting 85. Extras (b-1, lb-1, w-2) 4. Total (2 wickets, 95 overs) 354.
Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-163.
Bowling: Alfred Absolem 20-1-80-1, Kaneshkk Naidu 18-5-35-0, Baseer 17-5-54-0, Paramveer Singh 21-3-91-1, Ahmed Quadri 9-0-54-0, Ravi Teja 4-0-16-0, B. Sandeep 6-0-22-0.