Hyderabad defeated Punjab by 60 runs to net full four points in their Elite Group 'B' Ranji Trophy cricket match at Gymkhana grounds in Hyderabad on Friday.
After adding just two runs to the overnight score of 147 for 6, the hosts, who took a first innings lead of 128 runs, were all out for 149 and set a winning target of 278 for Punjab.
Buckling under pressure, the visitors folded up for 217 runs giving hosts straight win to take their points tally to 12 points from five matches in the group.
Despite their first loss in six matches (they have won three and drawn two), Punjab are leading the tables with 16 points.
After Laxman was out for 60, Hyderabad innings came to a close with VRV Singh emerging as the most successful bowler claiming six wickets for 40 runs.
Chasing a modest victory target, Punjab batsmen could not wade through the variation shown by Hyderabad bowlers and failed to stay at the wicket losing concentration and the match with one day to spare.
Hyderabad speedster NP Singh played his part once again and the Punjab batsmen fell like nine pins with small scores after R S Sodhi was trapped before the wicket by Singh for 35.
The only other resistance came from Gaurav Gupta, who was unbeaten on 87 off 151 balls with 10 hits to the fence. Hyderabad new ball bowlers NP Singh and Vishnuvardhan along with spinner PIS Reddy unsettled the Punjab batsmen who were all out for 217 to give a thumping win for home team.
Scorecard
Hyderabad 1st innings 233
Punjab 1st innings 105
Hyderabad 2nd innings 149
Punjab 2nd innings (target: 278 runs)
R Ricky lbw b Vishnuvardhan 2
R Sodhi lbw b Singh 35
A Kakkar c Khaleel b Kaushik Reddy 19
B Singh b Kaushik Reddy 0
P Dharmani c Khaleel b Singh 9
G Gupta not out 87
M Sharma lbw b Singh 25
A Uniyal c A Singh b Reddy 14
G Singh c Khaleel b Reddy 5
V Singh b Singh 5
L Ablash c A Singh b Reddy 4
Extras: (b 4, lb 3, w 1, nb 4) 12
Total: (all out, 73 overs, 331 mins) 217
Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-56, 3-56, 4-60, 5-96, 6-158, 7-178, 8-205,
9-212, 10-217.
Bowling: Singh 20-4-62-4, Vishnuvardhan 20-5-39-1, Kaushik Reddy 12-4-56-2, Manohar 4-0-24-0, Reddy 17-3-29-3.
