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Classic Azhar, Laxman enthral Bangaloreans

There can be no sight more pleasing in cricket than two batsmen as stylish as the wirsty magician Mohammad Azharuddin and the artistic Venkata Sai Laxman exhibiting their mastery together at the crease.

A lively crowd at the Chinnaswamy stadium, Bangalore, on Tuesday, was fortunate to witness the two together in their full grandeur, as both Azhar (103: 181b, 14x4) and Laxman (163: 264b, 25x4, 1x6) slammed classy unbeaten centuries, putting on 253 runs together for the third wicket -- a Hyderabad record for the wicket -- to help Hyderabad reach 344 for two on the opening day of the five-day Ranji Trophy semi-final at the Chinnaswamy stadium.

The duo surpassed the earlier record (208) held by Vijay Mohan Raj and Narasimha Rao for the second wicket in 1979-80.

The duo's artistry had Karnataka skipper Venkatesh Prasad ruing his decision to put the opposition in on a pitch that had a fair bit of grass.

Barring Prasad, none of the other bowlers could create any impact on the batsmen. Bowling with a lot of fire, Prasad set the ball rolling when he claimed both Hyderabad openers Daniel Manohar and Nanda Kishore with 91 runs on the board. Unfortunately for the hosts, the other medium pace bowlers -- Dodda Ganesh and Mansoor Ali Khan -- lacked sting.

Laxman, after getting a reprieve from Barrington Rowland, fielding at midon, made full use of the opportunity to slam his 17th Ranji century -- third on trot. On the other hand, Azharuddin, who scored his 10th century in domestic cricket, played perfect foil to Laxman. And like the other semi-final at Bombay, it was in the post-tea session that the Hyderabad batsmen treated the spectators with some terrific strokeplay.

Once the team reached 250, Laxman and Azharuddin opened the flood gates. The runs started coming at a fast clip with the duo treating the bowlers with utter disdain. There was an array of drives in that region between cover and extra-cover. Laxman helped himself with a huge six over long-on off Joshi.

Just after Azhar completed his century off 167 balls, studded with 14 fours, Laxman reached another landmark (150, 23 fours, 1 six).

Scoreboard

Hyderabad (1st Innings):
Daniel Manohar c Thilak Naidu b Venkatesh Prasad 39
Nanda Kishore c Vijay Bharadwaj b Prasad 11
VVS Laxman batting 163
Mohd Azharuddin batting 103.
Extras (nb 22, w 3, lb 3) 28.
Total (for 2 wkts) 344.
Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-91.
Bowling: Venkatesh Prasad 21-6-53-2, Dodda Ganesh 21-0-89-0, Mansur Ali Khan 14-2-66-0, Sunil Joshi 23-5-83-0, B Akhil 4-0-26-0, Vijay Bharadwaj 7-0-24-0.