Left arm spinner Pragyan Ojha made a dream debut, claiming four wickets to bring Hyderabad back in contention after a batting collapse on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy Elite division semi-final against Railways in Delhi on Friday.
The 18-year-old claimed four Railway wickets after the hosts had bundled out Hyderabad for a paltry 166.
Apart from Anirudh Singh (92), none of the Hyderabad batmen showed any application on the placid Karnail Singh stadium track as they were bowled out 25 minutes before tea.
The hosts looked like running away with the tie when their openers Amit Pagnis (42) and Sanjay Bangar (24) gave them a solid start.
But Ojha, introduced as a second change bowler, claimed the wickets of Bangar and Tejinder Pal Singh in the same over and then scalped another two wickets to restrict Railways to 103 for 4 at stumps, after they were cruising at 69 for no loss at one stage.
All-rounder J P Yadav (23) and Yere Gaud (0) were at the crease at close.
Ojha, who took 53 wickets in the nine matches in the under-22 C K Nayudu Trophy this season, was a bit unlucky as Raja Ali (10) was dropped twice in one over. But the youngster had the last laugh when he had the batman leg before wicket while not offering a shot.
Earlier, the Hyderabad batsman failed to justify their captain's decision to bat first as they lost two wickets in the first over without any run on the board.
Harvinder Singh was the chief tormentor as he claimed four wickets for 28 runs and was well supported by J P Yadav (3/55) and Murali Kartik (2/41).
Hyderabad coach Rajiv Yadav was very disappointed with his team's batting performance but said Ojha had brought them back into the game and they would now try to put more pressure on the host tomorrow.
Railways coach Vinod Sharma said the team would be looking for a lead of at least 150 to 200 runs and the opening first hour tomorrow would be very important.
"We will be looking at a lead of about 150-200 runs. Otherwise, the match will be wide open and considering that we have to bat last taking the lead is very important," he added.
Scoreboard
Hyderabad (Ist innings):
D Manohar b Harvinder Singh 0
T Suman c Wankhede b Yadav 9
D Vinay Kumar b Harvinder 0
Anirudh Singh c T P Singh b Kartik 92
A Rayudu c Kartik b Yadav 4
A Yadav c Wankhede b Harvinder 3
I Khaleel run out 6
P Niranjan lbw Yadav 5
P Reddy c Khanolkar b Harvinder 11
N Singh c Khanolkar b Kartik 16
P Ojha not out 0
Extras: (b 2, lb 9, w 2, nb 7) 20
Total: (all out, 57.5 overs) 166
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-0, 3-18, 4-34, 5-58, 6-78, 7-105, 8-141, 9-158.
Bowling: Harvinder 15-4-28-4, J P Yadav 21-7-55-3, Bangar 7-1-16-0, Kartik 10.5-1-41-2, Parida 4-0-15-0.
Railways (Ist innings): A Pagnis c Suman b Ojha 42
S Bangar c Anirudh b Ojha 24
T P Singh b Ojha 0
R Ali lbw Ojha 10
J P Yadav batting 23
Y Gaud batting 0
Extras: (b-1, nb-2, w-1) 4
Total: (for 4 wkts, 32 overs) 103
Fall of wickets: 1-69, 2-69, 3-70, 4-103.
Bowling: N P Singh 3-0-31-0, D Manohar 6-2-11-0, I Reddy 13-4-31-0, P Ojha 10-4-29-4.