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Thursday, Jan 04, 2007
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Andhra in a spot of bother

Sports Reporter

The host needs another 114 runs to avoid follow on

GONE: A.S.K. Varma was snapped up by Rajat Bhatia off his own bowling. — PHOTO: CH. VIJAYA BHASKAR

VIJAYAWADA: Delhi medium pacers helped their team finish on top at the close of second day's play, reducing Andhra to 92 for four in a Super League Group `A' Ranji Trophy match at the IGMC Stadium here on Wednesday.

In reply to Delhi's 355, Andhra is fighting with its back to the wall, as it needs another 114 runs to avoid the follow on.

Shaky start

With the top order crumbling, the onus is on in-form batsman L.N. Prasad Reddy (35 batting) and Rv. Ch. Prasad (29 batting) to come to the rescue of their team.

Andhra was off to shaky start losing opener Manoj Sai, playing his first match of the season, with just 16 runs on the board in the seventh over.

Ishant Sharma hoodwinked Sai with a delivery, which came in sharply to rattle the timber.

The decision to bring in Rajat Bhatia as first change in the 12th over bore fruits for the visitor as he had A.S.K. Varma caught and bowled off a tentative stroke.

However, it was Ishant, who bagged the prize scalp, when he trapped Venugopala Rao on the back foot, a decision, which did not go well with Andhra skipper. With the experienced M.S.K Prasad also turning his back in the 31st over, Andhra was precariously placed at 45 for four.

Good stand

However, Prasad Reddy, (462 runs in five matches this season) and Prasad played cautiously to set the stage for an engrossing battle on Thursday.

Earlier, Mayank Tehlan (109 runs, 239b, 16x4) completed his century, his second of the season before he fell to a diving catch by Sai at forward short leg. Ashok Jain was the last man to be dismissed after he made a brilliant 72 with the help of three fours and one six.

The scores:

Delhi — 1st innings: A. Chopra c Manoj b Faiq 15, S. Dhawan lbw Kishore 16, M. Tehlan c Manoj b Faiq 109, M. Manhas c (sub) Sumanth b Faiq 42, V. Kohli c M.S.K. Prasad b Kalyan 33, R. Bhatia b Kalyan 24, A. Jain c A.S.K. Varma b Kishore 72, P. Bisht b Faiq 24, S. Sharma c (sub) Arjun b Faiq 0, A. Bhandari st M.S.K. Prasad b Kishore 11, Ishant (not out) 0; Extras (lb-5, nb-3, w-1): 9; Total (in 130.1 overs) 355.

Fall of wickets: 1-34, 2-34, 3-101, 4-174, 5-204, 6-329, 7-329, 8-350, 9-355.

Andhra bowling: Shahabuddin 16-3-60-0, Kalyan 18-5-36-2, Kumar 11-2-37-0, Faiq 44-6-115-5, Kishore 25.1-5-62-3, V. Rao 8-0-17-0, Rv. Ch. Prasad 8-1-23-0.

Andhra — 1st innings: Manoj b Ishant 4, L.N. Prasad Reddy (batting) 35, A.S.K. Varma c &b Bhatia 0, V. Rao lbw b Ishant 4, M.S.K. Prasad lbw b Bhandari 5, Rv. Ch. Prasad (batting) 29; Extras (b-3, nb-8, w-2, lb-2): 15; Total (for four wkts. in 47 overs) 92.

Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-20, 3-28, 4-45.

Delhi bowling: Bhandari 9-5-25-1, Ishant 12-6-25-2, Bhatia 6-5-25-1, Sharma 13-6-19-0, Jain 3-1-9-0, Chopra 2-0-6-0, Manhas 2-1-2-0.

At Hyderabad: Hyderabad 309 in 109.5 overs (D. Ravi Teja 57, T.S. Suman 44, A. Yadav 85, Dinda four for 78) vs. Bengal 172 for seven in 68 overs (R. Gavaskar 66).

At Vadodara: Uttar Pradesh 269 vs. Baroda 259 for five in 102 overs (S. Parab 113, J. Martin 42).

At Bangalore: Karnataka 426 in 125.1 overs (R. Uthappa 159, Y. Goud 85, B. Akhil 73) vs. Tamil Nadu 119 for four in 51.3 overs (M. Vijay 48 batting).

At Nasik: Gujarat 369 in 144.1 overs (N.D. Modi 57, N.K. Patel 112, K. Damani 52, A. Sanclecha five for 128) vs. Maharashtra 72 for one in 33 overs.

At Mumbai: Rajasthan 155 vs. Mumbai 464 for eight in 131 overs (A. Muzumdar 117, R. Sharma 72, A. Nair 86, V. Samant 41 batting, M. Aslam five for 132).

At Rajkot: Haryana 308 in 120.5 overs (Sandeep Singh 58, A. Mishra 84, R. Dhruv five for 88) vs. Saurashtra 134 for five in 58 overs.

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