Torrid start

The Delhi opening pair showed ample arrogance against the downtrodden Hyderabad bowling attack, before flimsy attempts to innovate terminated their knocks. Dhawan missed his half-century by three runs, while Chopra got 51 but wasted a big chance to pile on the runs after playing a late cut straight to slip. Ashwin Yadav emerged as the most successful bowler for Hyderabad, picking up the wickets of Dhawan and Tehlan.

For Delhi, Pradeep Sangwan added two more to his overnight tally to finish with four in a long, tiring spell as the Hyderabad innings ended at 334. Sangwan got the first breakthrough, catching MP Arjun off his own bowling as Delhi took the second new ball to start proceedings. Nehra broke down once again after a three-over spell, but the Delhi bowlers kept pounding the Hyderabad tail.

At one point in the session, leg-spinner Chetanya Nanda went down on his knees and kissed the pitch — he had just beaten the bat for the first time that day on a super-flat track. The specialist leg-break bowler had a luckless two days, but Delhi part-time leg-spin option Aditya Jain managed to get a breakthrough with a long hop before lunch. Anoop Pai was strangely subdued in the first session, and fell in the eighth over after lunch after a well-compiled 130.

Hyderabad folded up within 51 minutes after the break.