Advantage Hyderabad in drawn tie

Hyderabad securing three points by virtue of taking first-innings lead in their opening Group-A Super League match, which ended in a dull draw against host Orissa on the fourth and final day at Barabati Stadium in Cuttack today. Hyderabad were 263 for five in their second innings when captain Arjun Yadav and his counterpart Shiv Sundar Das mutually decided to end the match, one hour before the scheduled time. The draw came as a disappointment for Orissa as they ended with just one point despite starting the game with several advantages in their favour. They had beaten Hyderabad at the opposition den by nine wickets last year. This time they played at home and were well ahead in experience. But lack-luster batting and poor fielding dashed their hopes of repeating the last year`s success. For all practical purposes, the match lost its importance on the third day itself when Hyderabad gained a 27-run first innings lead by dismissing the home team for 269. With a day and half remaining thereafter, the visitors chose to use the time for batting practice. With most of their front-line batsmen, barring opener T Suman, getting into fifties or fourties, Yadav`s reluctance to make a declaration and try for a decisive result did not seem totally unjustified. Earlier, Resuming at the overnight score of 56 for one, Hyderabad enjoyed the last day`s play with Rishi Raj and Anoop Pai scoring a half-century each. Overall, the match between the two weaker sides of the group proved to be a ordinary contest. Neither any batsman could score a hundred nor any bowler could return with a five-wicket haul. Instead of showing aggressive approach, both the teams played it safe. As a result, the match produced a total of 828 runs and 25 wickets at the rate of 207 runs and four wickets a day. Orissa will next meet Saurashtra at Rajkot, while Hyderabad will take on Delhi at home from November 10 to 13. Scoreboard: HYDERABAD (1st innings): 296 ORISSA (1st innings): 269 HYDERABAD (2nd innings): T Suman lbw D Mohanty 0 Ravi Teja c Haladhar b D Mohanty 42 Rishi Raj c N Behera b P Das 56 Anoop Pai c R Mohanty b Sehgal 53 Arjun Yadav b Sehgal 41 Abhinab Kumar (not out) 24 Amol Shinde (not out) 31 Extras (lb-7, b-9) 16 Total (5 wkt, 105 overs) 263 Fall of wickets: 1/4, 2/87, 3/130, 4/196, 5/213 Bowling: Debasis Mohanty 10-4-24-2 Basant Mohanty 17-4-37-0 Preetamjeet Das 17-5-39-1 Sourav Sehgal 23-4-69-2 Rakesh Mohanty 19-4-45-0 Niranjan Behera 18-7-31-0 PR Sinha 1-0-2-0