Akshath Reddy's knock helps Hyderabad take honours

: Skipper Akshath Reddy led from the front with a superb unbeaten 114 to help Hyderabad make 249 for 3 to take the honours on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group 'B' match against Tamil Nadu here Monday.

The visiting team elected to bat after winning the toss and suffered an early blow when Tanmay Agarwal (10) was out, edging one to wicketkeeper N Jagadeesan off M Mohammed in the sixth over.

The talented Rohit Rayudu walked in at the fall of Tanmayand pottered around for 54 balls for 13 before being caught by B Anirudh Sitaram.

Mystery bowler C V Varun, making his debut, was introduced as early as in the seventh over but he couldn't do any damage as the rival batsmen negotiated him well.

Akshath played himself in and found an able partner in Himalay Agarwal (29).

The two were involved in a half-century partnership to steady the Hyderabad innings.

Himalay fell to K Vignesh, who was returning to the side after recovering from an injury.

Then came the big partnership of the day as Akshath and B Sandeep (73 batting) joined forces.

The two played deliveries on merit and also despatched the bad balls to the boundary.

While the captain hit 14 fours and a six, Sandeep too looked to score of every given opportunity and slammed 10 fours and a six.

Akshath brought up his ton with a sweep off Rahil Shah in the 83rd over.

Brief scores: Hyderabad 249 for 3 in 90 overs (Akshath Reddy 114 batting, B Sandeep 74 batting) vs Tamil Nadu.

At Kolkata: Bengal 246 for 4 in 82 overs (Koushik Ghosh 100, A R Easwran 86, Manoj Tiwari 31 batting, Shubham Sharma 1 for 3) vs MP.

At Thiruvananthapuram: Andhra Pradesh 225 for 8 in 89.3 overs (Ricky Bhui 109, Shiv Charan Singh 45, Akshay KC 4 for 56) vs Kerala.