Propelling his side to the tion of strength was Mithun Manhas’s chanceless century (150, 21x4, 3x6), backed to the hilt by his second-in-command Parveez Rasool’s unbeaten 61. Bolstering the innings was the J&K skipper’s second-wicket stand of 189 with Ian Dev Chauhan and 113 for the third with Rasool.
Manhas finally fell pushing Anwar Ahmed Khan to Tanmay Agarwal at mid-off off the day’s last delivery.
A grassy pitch and cloudy conditions prompted the host to field first. After the left-arm duo of Anwar and C.V. Milind went wicketless, Hyderabad’s imported spearhead Sudeep Tyagi brought about the breakthrough less than an hour into the opening day. A straighter one from the speedster caught the edge of Shubam Khajuria’s blade and sailed into ’keeper Kolla Sumanth’s gloves.
Switching ends, Anwar then removed Imran Haroon, extracting another edge, which this time swayed to Danny Derek Prince in the slips.
The speedster could only look heavenwards in frustration when a caught-behind chance offered by Ian Dev Chauhan was spilt. Thereon, the attack threw up little to really threaten the batsmen, the odd steepler from Anwar giving them a jolt only occasionally.
Even Mehdi Hasan’s left-arm spin only helped the batsmen entrench themselves in the middle with a fair degree of comfort. By lunch, the visitors had rustled up 136 without further damage.
The sluggishness that has laid Hyderabad low so many times, seeped in further in the second session. Milind at mid-off got his hands to Ian’s lofted drive off Ahmed Quadri but was not able to hold on to the ball.
As if to make amends, he trapped Ian leg before not long after. By tea, the visitors were cruising at 249 for three.
Rasool played the able deputy to his captain Minhas, whose push to the covers for a couple brought up his hundred. The reversal of roles from the morning was near complete, the host dominant for the first hour and dominated for the rest of the day.
THE SCORES: JAMMU & KASHMIR — 1ST INNINGS: Shubam Khajuria c Sumanth b Sudeep 9, Imran Haroon c Danny b Anwar 17, Ian Dev Chauhan lbw b Milind 83, Mithun Manhas c Tanmay b Anwar 150, Parveez Rasool batting 61; Extras (lb-3, nb-6, w-2): 11; Total (for four wickets in 86.3 overs): 331.
FALL-OF-WICKETS: 1-27, 2-29, 3-218, 4-331.
HYDERABAD BOWLING: Anwar Ahmed Khan 23.3-8-49-2, C.V. Milind 20-2-89-1, Sudeep Tyagi 15-1-84-1, Mehdi Hasan 22-2-71-0, S.A. Quadri 6-0-35-0.
His 150 takes the side to 331 for four on day one