Left-arm spinner S. Ashish’s perseverance paid off as his fine spell after tea triggered a Services batting collapse and enabled Andhra snatch the first innings lead in their Ranji Trophy Group E match at the KCA-St. Xavier’s College ground here on Saturday.
After playing the support cast to medium pacers in the morning session, Ashish (4/91) took three wickets in the post tea session to dismiss Services for 343 and give his side a lead of 46 runs.
Ashish and fellow spinner Y. Sandeep (2/54) couldn’t extract the same amount of bounce which Services’ spinner Pulkit Narang managed to get from the surface. Nevertheless, both the Andhra spinners kept pegging away and were rewarded for their discipline when they forced errors from the batters.
Rash strokes
The Services batters also contributed to their downfall through poor judgement and rash strokes.
In the last over before lunch, opener Ravi Chauhan, who had batted solidly for 87 and had added 73 runs for the fourth wicket with skipper Rajat Paliwal, shouldered arms to an innocuous delivery from off spinner Sandeep and was bowled.
Paliwal, after adding 56 for the fifth wicket with Devender Lohchab, had to leave the field to attend to an injury. His replacement Arjun Sharma (1) didn’t last long as he was castled by Ashish and it started the slide.
After a breezy knock of 36, wicket-keeper Lohchab then slashed at a wide delivery from Sasikanth and was caught in the slips. Poonam Poonia (10) threw his wicket away with an ill-advised slog, while Narang was trapped in front — both fell to Ashish — as Services slipped from 252 for four to 283 for eight.
Big hits
Paliwal came back and watched as Diwesh Pathania (38) counter attacked with a few big hits off the spinners to add 58 for the ninth wicket. Pathania’s attempt to clear the infield resulted in a tame catch to Ricky Bhui at mid on. Ashish then induced an edge from Paliwal (96) to end the Services innings.
Andhra openers C.R. Gnaneshwar (7 batting) and U.M.S. Girinath (2 batting) survived to extend the lead to 55 runs.
The scores: Andhra — Ist innings: 389
Services — Ist innings: Anshul Gupta b Stephen 14, Ravi Chauhan b Sandeep 87, Rahul Singh c Rasheed b Sasikanth 9, Hardik Sethi c Bhui b Prithvi Raj 27, Rajat Paliwal c Girinath b Ashish 96, Devender Lohchab c Gnaneshwar b Sasikanth 36, Arjun Sharma b Ashish 1, Pulkit Narang lbw Ashish 16, Poonam Poonia c Shinde b Ashish 10, Diwesh Pathania c Bhui b Sandeep 38, Nitin Yadav (not out) 0; Extras (b-5, lb-1, w-2, nb-1): 9; Total (in 118.4 overs): 343.
Fall of wickets: 1-32, 2-48, 3-111, 4- 184, 5-242, 6-256, 7-269, 8-283, 9-341.
Andhra bowling: Stephen 20-7-58-1, Sasikanth 21-5-51-2, Prithvi Raj 19-6-50-1, T. Vijay 9-0-33-0, S.Ashish 29.4-6-91-4, Sandeep 20-3-54-2.
Andhra — 2nd innings: C.R. Gnaneshwar (batting) 7, U.M.S. Girinath (batting) 2; Total (for no loss in five overs): 9.
Services bowling: Narang 3-1-3-0, Arjun 1-0-2-0, Poonia 1-0-4-0.
