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Laxman slams unbeaten 346

Our Correspondent

Hyderabad's Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman created history. He continued his tall-scoring spree to enter the record books and become the only Indian batsman to score two triple hundreds in the 66-year-old history of Ranji Trophy.

The stylish Hyderabadi hit a brilliant unbeaten 346 -- the fifth highest score in Ranji trophy -- against Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy semi-final at the Chinnaswamy stadium, Bangalore. And riding on Laxman's brilliant knock, the visitors posted a mammoth 663 for 6 by close of play on Wednesday, scoring 319 runs on the second day of the five-day match.

Laxman, who had promised his father a triple-hundred in the match, did not disappoint his sire, hitting his second triple century in Ranji trophy to enter the record books. He also crossed the 1200-run mark in Ranji Trophy for the season and looks all set to break Vijay Bharadwaj's record of 1280. His earlier triple century -- an unbeaten 301 -- was scored at Jamshedpur against Bihar in 1996-97.

Only two other Hyderabad batsman have crossed the 300-mark before. They are M V Prasad (366 against Andhra at Secundarabad, 1993-94) and Abdul Azeem (303 against Tamil Nadu, 1986-87).

Karnataka must have dreamt of a revival after getting the wicket of Mohammad Azharuddin, who hit his 10th century in 32 Ranji trophy appearances, in the first session of the day (123: 204b, 18x4) after Azhar and Laxman had added a record 288 runs for the third wicket.

Laxman, however, put paid to their hopes. Knowing that his team needed a big total batting first, Laxman continued from where he had left behind on the opening day, grounding the hapless Karnataka attack to dust. He smashed 50 fours and two sixes in a 723-minute stay at the wicket, facing 540 balls, and carried his bat through for the second successive day to put the visitors in an impregnable position.

Hyderabad's also crossed their previous highest score against Karnataka in Ranji trophy -- a 563 at Secundarabad, nine seasons ago.

It would be interesting to see if Laxman would be allowed to go for B B Nimbalkar's 1948-49 record of 443 not out -- the highest individual score in Ranji Trophy -- or Hyderabad would declare their innings before that.

Scoreboard
Hyderabad (Ist Innings; overnight 344 for 2):

Daniel Manohar c Thilak Naidu b Venkatesh Prasad 39
Nanda Kishore c Vijay Bharadwaj b Prasad 11
VVS Laxman batting 346
Mohd. Azharuddin c Bharadwaj b Prasad 123
Vanka Pratap b Sunil Joshi 45
Parth Satwalkar c Naidu b Akhil 37
Riaz Sheikh c Arun Kumar b Dodda Ganesh 15
Fiaz Ahmed batting 7.
Extras (b-6, lb-4, w-6, nb-24) 40.
Total (for 6 wickets) 663.
Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-91, 3-379, 4-504, 5-590, 6-636.
Bowling: Venkatesh Prasad 39-10-104-3, Dodda Ganesh 36-4-147-1, M.A. Khan 25-4-104-0, Sunil Joshi 51-6-195-1, B. Akhil 14-1-64-1, Vijay Bharadwaj 11-1-29-0, A Vijay 4-0-10-0.

Day 1