The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Andhra denies Punjab a win

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Saturday, Jan 07, 2006

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Andhra denies Punjab a win

Special Correspondent

VISAKHAPATNAM: Resolute batting by Andhra captain Y. Venugopala Rao and Y. Gnaneswara Rao for the sixth-wicket stand denied Punjab a victory in its last and crucial Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match at the ACA-VDCA Stadium here on Friday.

Andhra, with seven points, thus kept its hopes of making it to the knockout stage alive. An outright win over UP in its last match gives Andhra a chance of winning the semifinal berth.

Punjab could win only two points from the match. With a total of 11 points, the Punjab men are forced to wait for the results of the last-round matches in the group to look for a chance to play in the knockout stage.

Andhra coach Abid Ali and captain Venu were happy to force a draw and deny Punjab two more points which would have eliminated Andhra from

In Kolkata, Tamil Nadu completed the formalities, beating Bengal by a huge margin of 222 runs an hour after lunch on the final day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Elite group `A' match at the Eden Gardens here on Friday.

The win and four points propelled Tamil Nadu to the joint third position with Bengal on nine points. Tamil Nadu medium pacers M.R. Shrinivas and R. Jesuraj did most of the damage. The scores

Punjab — 1st innings: 316.

Andhra — 1st innings: 237.

Punjab — 2nd innings: R. Ricky (run out) 31, R.S. Sodhi 45, D. Mongia st. MSK Prasad b Faiq 22, I. Malhotra st. Prasad b L. Kishore 1, P. Dharmani lbw L. Kishore 23, G. Gupta b L. Kishore 27, B. Sharma c Rayudu b Shahabuddin 2, U. Kaul (not out) 14, Gagandeep Singh (not out) 6. Extras (b-4, lb-1, nb-3, w-6) 14. Total (for seven wickets decl., in 48 overs) 185.

Fall of wickets: 1-53, 2-94, 3-95, 4-118, 5-148, 6-158, 7-173.

Andhra bowling: Shahabuddin 7-0-28-1, Krishna 1-0-6-0, Kishore 19-1-62-3, Faiq 14-1-50-1, V. Varma 7-0-34-0.

Andhra — 2nd innings: T. Suman lbw D. Mongia 17, M.S.K. Prasad c and b Bipul 46, K.S. Shahabuddin b Bipul 13, K. Kumaraswamy c Dharmani b Mongia 0, A.T. Rayudu c R. Ricky b Bipul 6, Y. Venugopala Rao (not out) 37, Y. Gnaneswara Rao c I. Malhotra b Rajesh 21, Md. Faiq (not out) 2. Extras (b-7, nb-17) 24. Total (for six wickets, in 77 overs) 166.

Fall of wickets: 1-40, 2-73, 3-89, 4-90, 5-108, 6-159.

Punjab bowling: Gagandeep 4-0-6-0, Ablish 6-2-17-0, Mongia 18-3-42-2, Rajesh 27-3-58-1, Ravneet 0.5-0-12-0, Bipul 21.1-9-24-3.

Other scores: Elite group:

At Ahmedabad: Gujarat 200 and 220 in 83.4 overs (Niraj Patel 72, Ramesh Powar six for 65) lost to Mumbai 207 and 214 for two (Sushant Marathe 64, Vinit Indulkar 72 not out, Amol Muzumdar 43 not out). Points: Mumbai 4, Gujarat 0.

At Bangalore: Karnataka 283 and 280 for eight decl. in 93.4 overs (Sujith Somasunder 54, Thilak Naidu 58, B. Akhil 47) bt Delhi 258 and 138 in 60.5 overs. Karnataka 4, Delhi 0.

At New Delhi: Maharashtra 237 and 230 for nine decl. in 94 overs (Abhijit Kale 111 not out, Madan Yadav four for 105) drew with Railways 140 and 110 for five in 56 overs (Vineet Saxena 43). Maharashtra 2, Railways 0.

At Kolkata: Tamil Nadu 218 and 423 for 7 decl. bt Bengal 145 and 274 in 68.1overs (Sourav Ganguly 88, Deep Dasgupta 47, R. Jesuraj six for 76). TN 4, Bengal 0.

At New Delhi: Baroda 449 for four decl. and 35 for no loss drew with Services 388 in 132.1 overs (M.P. Reddy 51, Jasvir Singh 67, Sarabjit Singh 46). Points: Baroda 2, Services 0.

At Lucknow: Hyderabad 142 and 227 lost to Uttar Pradesh 340 and 32 for no loss in 9.4 overs. Points: UP 4, Hyderabad 0.

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