New Delhi, Jan 11 (PTI) Andhra wicketkeeper-batter Srikar Bharat, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shoaib Mohd Khan scored half-centuries as the visitors made merry against a depleted Delhi bowling, declaring their innings at 459 for nine in the Ranji Trophy Group B tie here on Wednesday.
At stumps on day two, Delhi were 19 for one, having lost their opener Ayush Badoni for duck at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
With Andhra batters displaying tremendous staying power despite the early morning biting cold, Delhi bowlers could not warm up to the challenge and allowed the visitors to settle down and play their natural strokes.
If Srikar Bharat and Nitish Reddy were cautious in their approach, Shoaib Khan provided the final flourish, coming up with a breezy run-a-ball 78 and helping Andhra reach the imposing total.
Andhra skipper Hanuma Vihari, who had painstakingly scored 76 on day one, could add just nine runs to his overnight score before he was trapped lbw by Delhi quick Harshit Rana.
But success was a costly commodity for Delhi as Bharat and Nitish stitched together a 68-run stand to take the total past 300. And by the tile the latter departed, Andhra were well and truly on way to an imposing total.
Shoaib Khan, playing his 18th first-class game, slammed his third half-century in double-quick time to take the total past 450.
The 31-year-old’s dismissal brought about Andhra’s declaration and, with it, gave Delhi batters another opportunity to redeem themselves after a tough first four rounds of the Ranji season.
However, nothing seemed to be going right for the hosts as they lost Ayush Badoni for a golden duck, with the opener trapped leg before by Nitish Reddy.
Dhruv Shorey and Hritik Shokeen were at the crease on 9 and 10 runs respectively at stumps.
At Mumbai, Prithvi Shaw again gave a glimpse of his batting prowess, scoring a career-best 379 to guide the hosts to a mammoth 687 for four declared. Skipper Ajinkya Rahane’s embellishing 191-run knock added to Assam’s misery, who started confidently, losing just one wicket on way to scoring 129 on day two.
The enormity of the task for Assam can be gauged from the fact that they have to score another 558 runs in order to take the first-innings lead.
Shaw, unbeaten at 240 on Tuesday, continued to punish the Assam bowlers but fell just 21 runs short of the 400-run milestone, trapped in front by Riyan Parag. However, the declaration came much later when Rahane departed, caught by Assam skipper Gokul Sharma off Parag.
Brief scores: Andhra 459 for 9 decl in 133.2 overs (CR Gnaneshwar 81, Hanuma Vihari 85, Srikar Bharat 80, Nitish Kumar Reddy 66, Shoaib Md Khan 78; Hrithik Shokeen 4/114) vs Delhi 19/1 in 9 overs.
At Mumbai: Mumbai 687 for four declared in 138.4 overs (Prithvi Shaw 379, Ajinkya Rahane 191) vs Assam 129 for one in 39 overs (Subham Mandal 40, Rahul Hazarika batting 60).
At Hyderabad: Hyderabad 79 and 191 in 46.4 overs (Tholkanti Goud 58, Chandan Sahani 49; Jaydev Unadkat 3/62, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 4/34) lost to Saurashtra 327 in 68.3 overs (Harvik Desai 81, Chirag Jani 68, Sheldon Jackson 59, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 40; Anikethreddy 7/95) by 57 runs.
At Pune: Maharashtra 446 in 98 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 195, Kedar Jadhav 56, Azim Kazi 88; Sandeep Warrier 3/105) vs Tamil Nadu 267 for four in 65 overs (Baba Indrajith 47, Pradosh Ranjan Paul batting 74, Vijay Shankar batting 41).
Source: PTI News
