Ranji Trophy | Hyderabad completes an innings victory in quick time

Hyderabad’s Tanay picked up all the three wickets on the third day to finish with a match haul of nine scalps in the encounter against Tripura. | Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL : Hyderabad opened its Ranji Trophy 2026-27 campaign in emphatic fashion, completing an innings and 40 runs win against Tripura at Gymkhana on Tuesday. The match, however, was shaped much earlier, on day one, courtesy Wasim Jaffer’s inputs from the dugout.With Tripura carefully navigating the turn on the red soil pitch, the home side was advised to rejig the fielding, following which Rahul Radesh was moved to short-fine leg. The breakthrough came immediately, Rahul taking a good catch off Tanay Thyagarajann to send Hrituraj Ghosh Roy packing.The innings soon fell apart. Tanay struck twice more in quick succession, following which Tripura lost seven wickets with only five runs added. Its captain Manisankar Murasingh likened the collapse to watching a house of cards fall.Tanay finished the job on day three, mopping up the last three wickets in 6.2 overs. Sentu Sarkar fell first, with Tanmay Agarwal holding a sharp chance at first slip. Two overs later Parvez Sultan followed, K. Himateja snaring him at silly point with lightning reflexes.Mohammed Siraj dropped a sitter at point to give Abhijith Sarkar a reprieve, but it only delayed the inevitable. Sandip Sarkar departed for a duck in the very next over, handing Siraj his first Ranji win as captain.Preparation did the trickIn the end, preparation made all the difference. Tripura only began training after landing in the City of Pearls a week before the match. Hyderabad, meanwhile, arrived with weeks of hard graft behind them.“This is the most prepared we’ve been as a team. We’ve been preparing well individually over the years but as a team this is the best. The camp was really focused on our fitness and fielding. It made sure we got to the level where we could play the first and last game of the tournament with the same intensity,” Tanay explained.Hyderabad, with seven points in its kitty, next heads to Mulapadu to face Andhra, while Tripura travels to Guwahati to take on Assam.The scores:Tripura — 1st innings: 134.Hyderabad — 1st innings: 294.Tripura — 2nd innings: Bikram Kumar Das lbw Ruthik 11, Hrituraj Ghosh Roy c Abhirath b Siraj 5, Sridam Paul c Himateja b Abhirath 25, Hanuma Vihari c Abhirath b Tanay 1, Mandeep Singh lbw Tanay 7, Manisankar Murasingh lbw Tanay 10, Rajat Dey lbw Siraj 1, Sentu Sarkar c Tanmauy b Tanay 27, Parvez Sultan c Himateja b Tanay 15, Sandip Sarkar c Rahul Singh b Tanay 0, Abhijit Sarkar (batting) 9; Extras (b-8, wd-1): 9; Total (in 41.2 overs): 120.Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-25, 3-27, 4-34, 5-43, 6-45, 7-81, 8-107, 9-110.Hyderabad bowling: Siraj 9-4-19-2, Ruthik 6-4-14-1, Tanay 16.2-5-52-6, Aniketh 6-1-22-0, Abhirath 1-0-1-1, Milind 3-1-4-0. Published - October 13, 2026 06:52 pm IST