Ranji Trophy | Hyderabad drubs Sikkim by an innings and 198 runs

Captain Tilak Varma scores second century as Hyderabad defeats Sikkim by an innings and 198 runs.

Captain Tilak Varma scored his second century in as many games this season and the bowlers struck at regular intervals to help Hyderabad drub Sikkim by an innings and 198 runs on the second day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Plate Group League match at NexGen Cricket Academy Ground here on Saturday.

For the third consecutive match this season, Hyderabad showed its dominance in the Plate Group wrapping up the contest inside two days.

The defeat for Sikkim was delayed not because of any special performance by the batters but the declaration of Hyderabad innings was delayed to help Tilak complete a deserving hundred which he eventually did by lofting Palzor Tamang for a straight six.

Tilak (103 n.o., 111b, 8x4, 4x6), who was more subdued this morning, and the more aggressive Chandan Sahani (54, 56b, 6x4, 2x6) put up 88 runs for the fourth wicket which only pushed Sikkim on the defensive.

And, when Sikkim batted second time, the question was how better the batters would fare. But, they disappointed once again. Pacer Karthikeya Kak, the pick of the bowlers with the new ball, forced opener Pankaj Rawat (13) to snick to wicketkeeper Pragnay Reddy. He soon sent back the other main batter Ashish Thapa (0) in similar fashion.

Off-spinner Saaketh bowled well to take two wickets and left-arm spinner Tanay Thyagarajan began well with a double blow in the 32nd over to remove the dangerous Sumit Singh and Saurav Kumar Prasad.

But, Tanay turned out to be the most expensive bowler. In the spell before tea, he was hit for 10 fours and three sixes.