The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Andhra in trouble

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 15, 2004

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Andhra in trouble

By Our Special Correspondent

VISAKHAPATNAM, DEC. 14. Andhra did well to restrict Bengal in the first session of the second day but found itself in deep trouble at the close of play on Tuesday in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group-A match at the ACA-VDCA Stadium here.

Andhra was 160 for eight, 74 behind Bengal's score and two wickets in hand, when bad light halted play with 6.4 overs of the day's quota remaining.

The openers left with 11 runs on the board but A.S.K. Varma and captain Y. Venugopala Rao stemmed the rot.

Just when the second wicket stand was all set to bring stability, Varma (24, 2x4, 61b) tried to hoist left-arm spinner Murtaza Lodghar over the long-on fence and was caught by Rohan Gavaskar, ending the 62-run stand.

Y. Gnaneswara Rao and Venu fell leg-before as half the side was back in the pavilion but Andhra's hopes was kept alive by R.V.Ch. Prasad (25, 1x6, 2x4, 57b) and A.G. Pradeep (28, 3x4, 73b) who put on 51 runs. Prasad was out holing out in the deep.

With Shahbuddin joining Pradeep, Andhra was still in with a chance but soon Pradeep was trapped in front by Lodghar.

Earlier in the day Bengal added 28 runs in 70 minutes to its overnight 202 for six. Laxmi Ratan Shukla, who held the team together on the first day, made 57 runs.

The scores:

Bengal — 1st innings: A. Das c Gnaneswara Rao b Faiq 59, D. Dasgupta b Varma 48, N. Haldipur c Gnaneswara Rao b Venu 0, R. Gavaskar lbw Venugopala Rao 1, Subhomoy Das b Shahbuddin 9, L.R. Shukla b Shahbuddin 57, S. Sanyal c Gnaneswara Rao bt Faiq 16, S. Lahiri 22, M. Lodhgar c Prasada Reddy b Shahbuddin 7, R. Bose b Shahbuddin 1, Sabir Ali (not out) 0. Extras (b-6, lb-6, nb-1, w-1): 14. Total (105.1 overs) 234.

Fall of wickets: 1-82, 2-87, 3-95, 4-118, 5-133, 6-180, 7-217, 8-232, 9-234.

Andhra bowling: Shahbuddin 20.1-9-31-4, Kalyan Krishna 17-6-31-0, Prasad 5-0-20-0, Appa Rao 18-8-27-0, Faiq 17-2-50-2, Venugopala Rao 19-4-39-3, Varma 6-2-15-1, Pradeep 1-0-4-0, Pathak 1-0-1-0, Gnaneswara Rao 1-0-4-0.

Andhra — 1st innings: A. Pathak lbw Sabir Ali 6, Prasad Reddy b Bose 4, Varma c Gavaskar b Lodghar 24, Venugopala Rao lbw b Lodghar 39, Gnaneswara Rao lbw b Lahiri 4, Pradeep lbw b Lodhgar 28, R.V.Ch. Prasad c Lodghar b Lahiri 25, Shahbuddin c Gavaskar b Lodghar 22, Md. Faiq (batting) 2, Kalyan Krishna (batting) 0. Extras (nb-4, lb-2) 6. Total (for eight wkts., 65.2 overs) 160.

Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-11, 3-73, 4-81, 5-81, 6-132, 7-157, 8-160.

Bengal bowling: Bose 11-7-4-1, Sabir Ali 14-6-26-1, Lahiri 20.2-4-79-2, Sanyal 1-0-2-0, Lodghar 15-4-34-4, Gavaskar 4-1-13-0.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport