Half-centuries by middle order batsmen D Vinay Kumar and N Arjun Yadav enabled hosts Hyderabad to reach 236 for eight on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'B' match against Uttar Pradesh at the Gymkhana grounds in Hyderabad on Monday.
Put in to bat, Hyderabad started on a shaky note with the enterprising Daniel Manohar being dismissed for 28, laced with three fours and one six, after he added 61 runs for the opening wicket with Sashank Nag (26).
With Uttar Pradesh fast bowler Salabh Srivastava picking good pace and exploiting the morning dew conditions well by troubling the batsmen frequently, Hyderabad were soon reduced to 82 for 4
Ambati Rayudu, who is yet to score some good runs this year, failed to make any impact as he was dismissed after scoring just six off 20 balls.
Vinay Kumar and Arjun Yadav then stemmed the rot by adding 91 runs for the fifth wicket playing with a blend of caution and aggression, before Arjun was dismissed by spinner Praveen Gupta after scoring 55.
Vinay Kumar followed soon as speedster Srivastava uprooted his stumps with an incoming delivery for 66.
Spinner Gupta and foxed the hosts with his flight and deception to return with figures of 3 for 40 as Hyderabad finished the day with 236 for 8. Wicketkeeper Ibrahim Khaleel was out for 13 off the last ball of the day.
For Uttar Pradesh, Srivastava and Gupta claimed three wickets each while Winston Zaidi and R P Singh took one wicket apiece.
