Last year's semi-finalist Hyderabad's hopes for a berth in the last four stage were shattered when hosts Baroda bundled them out for a paltry 131 to take a 98-run first innings lead on the second day of their Elite group ''B'' Ranji trophy match on Wednesday.
By the close of play, Baroda were sitting pretty with an overall lead of 248 runs, having scored 150 for three wickets in their second essay following an unbeaten 92-run fourth wicket partnership between opener Connor Williams (60, 6x4) and Kiran Powar (46, 5x4, 2x6).
Replying to the home team's modest total of 229, Hyderabad who resumed this morning with their overnight first innings score of 28 for 1, caved in soon after opener Abhinav Kumar (22) made his exit at the side's total of 75 having put in 43 runs with Anirudh Singh (22) for the third wicket.
With medium pacer Shekhar Joshi claiming skipper Arjun Yadav and D Vinay Kumar in his very next over, the visitors crashed to 131 all out barely 35 minutes after lunch failing to withstand the onslaught of Joshi (4/15), off-spinner Yusuf Pathan (3/36) and medium pacer Irfan Pathan (sr) (2/23).
Having gained 98 run first innings lead, Baroda began their second innings with in-form Williams and Satyajeet Parab on a decent note as the duo put on 54 runs in 15 overs in their opening stand.
Though Hyderabad left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha struck thrice to reduce Vadodara to 58 for 3, dismissing Parab (34, 6x4), Rakesh Solanki (2) and skipper Jacob Martin (0) in the space of five runs, the hosts staged a remarkable recovery through Williams and Powar, who remained unbeaten by adding 92 runs in their 109 minutes for the fourth wicket.
Scorecard
Baroda 1st innings 229
Hyderabad 1st innings
A Kumar c Parab b Joshi 22
P Shashank Nag c YK Pathan b Vahora 8
A Absolem b IS Pathan 10
A Singh c Shah b YK Pathan 22
A Yadav c & b Joshi 0
D Vinay Kumar b Joshi 0
I Khaleel c Swapnil Singh b YK Pathan 5
S Pai st Shah b YK Pathan 18
K Reddy c Shah b Joshi 15
P Reddy c Vahora b IS Pathan 2
P Ojha not out 8
Extras (b 14, lb 4, w 1, nb 2) 21
Total (all out, 54.4 overs, 236 mins) 131
Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-32, 3-75, 4-75, 5-75, 6-81, 7-84, 8-116, 9-116, 10-131
Bowling: IS Pathan 11.1 3 23 2 (2nb, 1w), Vahora 13 3 39 1, Joshi 15.3 8 15 4, YK Pathan 15 5 36 3
Baroda 2nd innings
C Williams not out 60
S Parab st Khaleel b Ojha 34
R Solanki c Abhinav Kumar b Ojha 2
J Martin c Khaleel b Ojha 0
K Powar not out 46
Extras (lb 4, w 1, nb 3) 8
Total (3 wickets, 44 overs) 150
Fall of wickets: 1-54, 2-58, 3-58
Bowling: Kaushik Reddy 11 2 37 0 (3nb), Absolem 7 1 23 0 (1w), Reddy 9 2 11 0, Ojha 13 0 61 3, Anirudh Singh 2 1 3 0
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