A composed half-century by skipper VVS Laxman followed by another destructive spell of seam bowling by Alfred Absolem put Hyderabad in box seat in the Ranji Trophy Elite Division cricket league match against Punjab in Hyderabad on Thursday.

Laxman made a fluent 76 to help Hyderabad make 251 in reply to Punjab's 142 and gain a 109-run first innings lead against Punjab on the second day.

Absolem, who had taken seven wickets in the visitors' first innings, grabbed 3-55 and in combination with MP Arjun (2-27) reduced them to 74 for five.

Skipper Pankaj Dharmani and Uday Kaul then came to the resuce of the visitors and put the innings back on track with an unfinished partneship of 71 runs for the sixth wicket.

At stumps, Punjab were 145 for five with Dharamani unbeaten on 70 and Kaul 28 not out.

Earlier, Laxman along with wicketkeeper Ibrahim Khaleel (39 no) guided Hyderabad, who resumed at 145 for four, to a comfortable total.

Laxman's innings lasted 283 minutes and contained nine fours while stretching the lead for the hosts.

Khaleel and Laxman added 48 runs for the sixth wicket before the latter fell.

Scorecard

Punjab first innings: 142

Hyderabad first innings: (overnight 145 for 4)
T S Suman lbw b Gagandeep 4
P Shashank Nag c Harbhajan b Gagandeep Singh 8
Anirudh Singh c Dharmani b Sodhi 33
VVS Laxman c Kaul b Ablish 76
AS Yadav c Kaul b VRV 40
D Vinay Kumar b VRV 4
Khaleel not out 39
P Reddy c Kaul b Ablish 5
A Absolem c Mongia b Harbhajan Singh 0
M P Arjun b VRV 3
P Ojha c Harbhajan b VRV 0
Extras (b-8, lb-6, w-1, nb-24) 39
Total (all out in 82 overs) 251

Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-21, 3-60, 4-145, 6-207, 7-220, 8-240, 9-245

Bowling: Gagandeep Singh 19-4-53-2, L Ablish 20-7-36-2, VRV Singh 22-3-79-4, Harbhajan Singh 16-0-59-1, R S Sodhi 4-0-8-1, D Mongia 1-0-2-0.

Punjab second innings:
R S Reddy c Khaleel b Arjun 0
K Goel c Vinay Kumar b Absolem 4
D Mongia c Suman b Arjun 8
P Dharmani (not out) 70
G Gupta c Khaleel b Absolem 6
R S Sodhi c Khaleel b Absolem 11
U Kaul (not out) 28
Extras (b-1, lb-4, nb-13) 18
Total (for five wickets in 41 overs) 145

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-10, 3-30, 4-41, 5-74

Bowling: A Absolem 11-0-55-3, M P Arjun 14-3-27-2, P K Reddy 8-0-34-0, P Ojha 8-0-24-0.