: 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.
Tanay struck twice more in quick succession, following which Tripura lost seven wickets with only five runs added. 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. Its captain Manisankar Murasingh likened the collapse to watching a house of cards fall. 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. In the end, preparation made all the difference. Hyderabad, meanwhile, arrived with weeks of hard graft behind them.
Tripura only began training after landing in the City of Pearls a week before the match.
“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.