Half-centuries by Arjun Yadav and D B Ravi Taja helped Hyderabad to a respectable 258 for six against Bengal on the opening day of the four-day Super League Ranji Trophy match in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
Yadav scored an unbeaten 79 after a 91-run stand for the first wicket between D B Ravi Teja (57) and T S Suman(44).
Put in to bat, the hosts started off well with the openers handling Bengal new ball bowlers Saurav Sarkar and Ranadeb Bose competently.
Teja sailed smoothly to his half-century before being caught by Saurasish Lahiri to give Ashok Dinda his first wicket.
Teja's 57 came off 64 balls, with nine hits to the fence, while his partner Suman, who played a more patient knock, was taken by Shukla off Lahiri after hitting seven fours.
Dinda, the most successful bowler for Bengal, struck quickly to send back Shashank Nag (1) to reduce the hosts to 105 for 3.
Skipper Anirudh Singh was joined by Arjun Yadav and the duo stabilised the innings before Dinda struck again, rattling Singh's stumps with an incoming delivery after he scored 18.
Yadav then put on a useful partnership with D Vinay Kumar as he crossed his half-century.
The stand was broken when Kumar could not make it to the crease before a direct throw from Rohan Gavaskar was taken by Gupta to remove the bails. Kumar made 23.
Arjun kept his cool and by the end of the day had hit nine fours and two sixes.
Giving him company was MP Arjun (12).
For Bengal, Dinda claimed four wickets while SS Lahari accounted for Suman.
Scorecard
Hyderabad (1st innings):
D B Ravi Teja c Lahiri b Dinda 57
T S Suman c Shukla b Lahiri 44
P Shashank Nag lbw b Dinda 1
Anirudh Singh B Dinda 18
A S Yadav batting 79
D Vinay Kumar run out 23
Khaleel lbw b Dinda 12
M P Arjun batting 12
Extras: (b-5, lb-2, nb-5) 12
Total: (for 6 wkts in 90 overs) 258
Fall of wickets: 1-81, 2-103, 3-105, 4-158, 5-201, 6-229.
Bowling: R R Bose 15-3-26-0, S S Sarkar 12-3-58-0, A Dinda 30-10-66-4, S S Lahiri 24-5-85-1, M Tiwary 5-2-3-0, L R Shukla 3-1-8-0, R S Gavaskar 1-0-5-0.
