Medium-pacer M. Mohammed was the pick of the Tamil Nadu bowlers yet again, as his four-wicket haul helped the visitors restrict Andhra to 198 for eight on the opening day of its Group B Ranji Trophy clash at the CSR Sarma College grounds, here, on Tuesday.
The TN skipper Indrajith chose to bowl on a pitch that had much to offer for the seamers. He must have probably had a close look at the wicket before taking the call. It seemed a good decision as his bowlers dismissed the Andhra openers early.
Natarajan, playing his first game of the season after recovering from an injury, struck in his first over when Prashanth Kumar edged one to wicketkeeper Jagadeesan. Quite soon, Ashwin Hebbar was caught by Kaushik off Mohammed as the home team was reduced to 16 for two in the sixth over.
Ricky Bhui, with back to back centuries under his belt this season, joined Jyothi Sai Krishna (58) in the middle. With Natarajan and Mohammed keeping it tight, runs were hard to come by and a few deliveries that found the edge also fell short of the slip fielders.
AS IT HAPPENED: Ranji Trophy 2018-19: Round 3, Day 1
After a testing time, Bhui stepped up the scoring rate with three well-timed hits to the fence off Vignesh in the 20th over. But, Mohammed trapped him leg-before soon. With the Dindigul lad also accounting for skipper Sumanth, Andhra was in a spot of bother at 68 for four.
The post-lunch session, however, belonged to Andhra with Sai Krishna and debutant Girinath Reddy (69 batting) putting on a vital 73-run partnership for the fifth wicket. Their effort gave the team the much-needed momentum to post a decent total.
But, Mohammed and Natarajan scalped a wicket each after tea to put the host on the backfoot. Girinath and Shoaib Mohammed put up a fight for some time but, this time around, spinner Sai Kishore’s twin-strike off successive balls got the visitors back on track.
The scores:
Andhra 198 (Sai Krishna 58, Girinath Reddy 69 batting; Mohammed 4-60, Sai Kishore 2-26) vs Tamil Nadu .
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