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Andhra staring down the barrel

Special Correspondent

KANPUR: Andhra's agony multiplied on the second day of the contest, as Uttar Pradesh, after taking a first innings lead of 235, reduced it to 65 for six in the second essay in their Ranji Trophy Elite group match at the Kamla Club here on Thursday.

Nothing went Andhra's way. Uttar Pradesh lost overnight batsman Suresh Raina quickly but Mohammad Amir Khan, batting at No. 9, made a brilliant 70 off 97 balls with 12 fours and a six to put his team firmly on course.

Ravikant Shukla contributed 54 with seven fours, but it was Amir's commitment late in the order that gave Uttar Pradesh the strength to press for an outright victory with a bonus point.

Praveen packs a punch

Of course, there was a cameo by Praveen Kumar that left Andhra shattered.

This bright all-rounder from Meerut, who looks good enough to play in a higher grade, hit 41 off 27 balls with three fours and three sixes but twisted his ankle playing volleyball during the lunch break to be ruled out of the match.

Praveen's absence was not really felt as R. P. Singh and Rohit Prakash bowled well in tandem to expose the brittle Andhra batting.

The two stunning catches that Suresh Raina took at short cover also contributed immensely towards Uttar Pradesh finishing the day in a favourable position that should save it from relegation.

The scores:

Andhra — 1st innings: 111.

Uttar Pradesh — 1st innings: R. Prakash b Shahabuddin 8, S. Shukla c Gnaneswara b Vijaykumar 15, Mohd. Kaif c M.S.K. Prasad b Shahabuddin 26, S. Raina c Varma b Shahabuddin 54, A. Murtaza c Varma b Faiq 36, R. Shukla c Shahabuddin b Gnaneswara 54, T. Abbas c Venugopala b Vijaykumar 13, P. Kumar c M.S.K. Prasad b Kalyankrishna 41, M. Amir Khan c M.S.K. Prasad b Gnaneswara 70, R.P. Singh c M.S.K. Prasad b Gnaneswara 5, Ratnesh Mishra (not out) 1; Extras (lb-4, nb-7, w-7, penalty 5): 23; Total (in 94.5 overs): 346.

Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-35, 3-73, 4-155, 5-165, 6-186, 7-244, 8-339, 9-345.

Andhra bowling: Shahabuddin 25-3-81-3, Kalyankrishna 22-4-90-1, Vijaykumar 20-2-82-2, Mohd. Faiq 19-5-53-1, Venugopala Rao 6-1-23-0, Gnaneswara Rao 2.5-0-8-3.

Andhra — 2nd innings: Manoj Sai lbw b Mishra 4, L.N.P. Reddy b R.P. Singh 0, A.S.K. Varma c Raina b Prakash 17, Y. Gnaneswara Rao lbw b R.P. Singh 0, M.S.K. Prasad c Raina b Prakash 5, Y. Venugopala Rao (batting) 25, S. Arjun Kumar b Murtaza 7, K.S. Shahabuddin (batting) 5; Extras (w-2): 2; Total (for six wkts. in 31.5 overs): 65.

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-6, 3-8, 4-23, 5-44, 6-60.

Uttar Pradesh bowling: R.P. Singh 12-5-14-2, Ratnesh Mishra 8.5-2-30-1, Rohit Prakash 7-3-12-2, Ravikant Shukla 1-0-1-0, Ali Murtaza 3-1-8-1.

Other scores:

Super League: At Kolkata: Rajasthan 193 vs Bengal 465 for four in 119 overs (S.G. Das 82, A.A. Jhunjhunwala 115, M. Tiwary 152 batting, S. Ganguly 72 batting).

At Hyderabad: Punjab 142 & 145 for five in 41 overs (P. Dharmani 70 batting) vs Hyderabad 251 in 82 overs (V.V.S. Laxman 76, A.S. Yadav 40, V.R.V. Singh four for 79).

At Nasik: Mumbai 515 for eight dec in 137.2 overs (S.O. Kukreja 114, W. Jaffer 78, H.N. Shah 112, A. Nair 88) vs Maharashtra 99 for four in 37 overs (H.H. Khadiwale 54).

At Rajkot: Karnataka 570 in 156.5 overs (Y.K.T. Goud 171 not out, R.R. Bhatkal 42, R. Uthappa 108, C. Raghu 83, R. Dravid 56) vs Saurashtra 103 for no loss in 23 overs (S.D. Jogiyani 62 batting).

At Chennai: Baroda 263 vs Tamil Nadu 267 for six in 102 overs (M. Vijay 121, S. Badrinath 89).

Plate League (semifinals):

At Dharamsala: Railways 229 in 98 overs (S. Sanyal 52 not out, T.P. Singh 54, V. Bhatia six for 57) vs Himachal Pradesh 151 for three in 84 overs (Sandeep Sharma 68).

At Cuttack: Assam 235 in 105.1 overs (Tarjinder Singh 43, Nishant Bordoloi 40, Debasis Mohanty five for 66) vs Orissa 186 for seven in 66 overs (Niranjan Behera 57).

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