Mohammed Siraj came back with a bang as he led the way for Hyderabad as captain with a four-wicket haul to bundle out Chhattisgarh on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Elite group D fixture at the Gymkhana ground on Thursday, January 29.
With Hyderabad being asked to bowl first, Siraj led the way to get the initial flurry of wickets, with the India pacer getting rid of Anuj Tiwary and Sanjeet Desai in his first spell.
Following Siraj’s opening spell, Chhattisgarh managed to claw their way back into the game with middle-order batters Vikalp Tiwari and Prateek Yadav’s knocks of 94 and 106, respectively.
But Siraj enforced yet another breakthrough by denying Vikalp his century and followed it up with the wicket of Aditya Sarwate as Hyderabad bundled out Chhattisgarh for 283 in under 73 overs.
Siraj ended up as the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4/56 in his 17 overs, which included three maidens as well.
Hyderabad might already be out of contention for the knockouts, but that is not deterring their belief. Chhattisgarh, on the other hand have a slim chance of qualifying if they can secure a bonus point win.
Siraj endured a difficult outing on his captaincy debut for Hyderabad against Mumbai in their previous fixture, where the side led by Siddesh Lad went on to register a whopping 560 as their first-innings total.
Sarfaraz Khan went on to smash a double-hundred while the captain had a century to his name as well. Suved Prakar from the middle-order also chipped in with a fifty of his own too as Mumbai went on to take the win by 9 wickets.
With India not playing any more Tests or ODIs for some time, the Ranji Trophy has become an important avenue for the likes of Siraj to keep them up to speed in terms of fitness and game awareness. The Indian selectors would be keeping a close eye on his performances for the games they would need him in the future.
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