Tanay Thyagarajan’s 11 wickets carry Hyderabad to a 267-run Ranji Trophy win over Andhra

Hyderabad beat Andhra by 267 runs in their Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match at the DVR Ground in Mulapadu on 21 October, bowling Andhra out for 130 on the fourth and final day. Left-arm spinner Tanay Thyagarajan took 6 for 35 in the second innings to finish with match figures of 11 for 98.

Chasing 398, Andhra resumed on 7 for 2 and lost their last eight wickets for 123 runs in 26.5 overs. Opener Hemanth Reddy, who made 27, and captain Ricky Bhui, who made 26, put on 51 for the third wicket, but the innings came apart once Thyagarajan had Bhui caught at 55. The spinner also accounted for Hemanth Reddy, Seeram Rahul, Revanth Reddy, Saurabh Kumar and Venkat Sasikanth, while fellow left-arm spinner Aniketh Reddy took 3 for 57.

The win is Hyderabad’s second in two matches under India fast bowler Mohammed Siraj, after they beat Tripura by an innings and 40 runs in the opening round. Andhra, who drew with Karnataka in their first match, are still looking for their first win of the season.

How the match turned

Hyderabad won the toss, chose to bat and made 275, built on a 109-run opening stand between Tanmay Agarwal and Abhirath Reddy. Andhra replied with 184, with Thyagarajan taking 5 for 63, and that 91-run deficit shaped the rest of the game.

Kodimela Himateja then batted Andhra out of the contest with an unbeaten 123 off 202 balls, hitting 10 fours and five sixes, as Hyderabad declared their second innings at 306 for 7. Thyagarajan added an unbeaten 53 off 64 balls before the declaration. For Andhra, seamer Kavuri Saiteja took 4 for 40 and off-spinner Tripurana Vijay picked up six wickets across the two innings.

A strong start for Thyagarajan

Thyagarajan had taken nine wickets in the win over Tripura, which gives him 20 wickets from Hyderabad’s first two matches. Spin did all of the damage in the chase: Hyderabad’s spinners took all 10 Andhra wickets in the second innings, while Siraj bowled four overs for 10 runs without a wicket.

For Andhra, the defeat came after a promising opening round in which they took the first-innings lead against Karnataka, with Seeram Rahul scoring a century in their total of 418.

What comes next

The third round of the Elite group stage begins on 26 October, when Hyderabad take on Punjab.