Ranji Trophy: Rajasthan scents victory against Andhra
Aniket Choudhary and Tanveer Haq prised out the top order cheaply after Ashok Meneria and Mahipal Lomror's half-centuries set a daunting target (368) for Andhra.
Published : Feb 19, 2022 19:53 IST
Inspired spells from Rajasthan medium pacers Aniket Choudhary and Tanveer Haq put their side on road to victory against Andhra in the Group E Ranji Trophy match at the St. Xavier's College ground here on Saturday.
The duo prised out the top order cheaply after Ashok Meneria and Mahipal Lomror's half-centuries set a daunting target (368) for Andhra.
Chasing a stiff target on a dicey wicket, Andhra ended the penultimate day at 100 for four after recovering from a precarious 41 for four.
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The recovery was made possible by some gutsy batting by Ricky Bhui (31 not) and Y. Sandeep (32 not out) who figured in an unbroken 59-run stand for the fifth wicket.
Captain K.S. Bharat's (6) ill-judged reverse sweep off Shubham Singh left Andhra innings in disarray at 41 for four. The Andhra skipper had tried the reverse sweep a few times but had failed to connect and when he eventually did, it resulted in a tame catch to wicketkeeper Meneria.
Sandeep was positive and punished the loose deliveries and it had an effect on his partner who overcame his initial jitters to stroke the ball fluently.
Earlier, Andhra medium pacer Sasikanth struck quick blows to put Rajasthan on the backfoot. However, captain Ashok Meneria (79) and Mahipal Lomror (79) joined forces to stem the rot. They batted in contrasting styles to compile half-centuries.
While Mahipal was watchful and played the ball on merit, Ashok was adventurous. He took on the spinners and carted them to all parts of the field to quickly advance to fifty.
After Mahipal's departure, Ashok with the help of the lower order batters propped up the innings. Ashok added 44 runs for the seventh wicket with Shubham Sharma (23) and another 42 runs for eighth wicket with Manav Suthar (24 not out) before holing out. Aniket Choudhary (23) hit a flurry of boundaries off medium pacers to add 34 runs for the last wicket with Manav and left Andhra with a moutain to climb for victory.
The scores:
Rajasthan - Ist innings: 275
Andhra - Ist innings: 224
Rajasthan - 2nd innings: Yash Kothari lbw Sasikanth 3, Manender Singh c Vijay b Manish 7, Mahipal Lomror b Vijay 79, Aditya Garhwal lbw Sasikanth 38, Rajesh Bishnoi c Ricky b Manish 0, Ashok Meneria c Ricky b Sandeep 79, Anirudh Singh c Bharat b Sasikanth 12, Shubham Singh run out 23, Manav Suthar not out 24, Tanveer Haq lbw Stephen 9, Aniket Choudhary c & b Stephen 23
Extras (b 4, lb 15, nb 1): 20
Total (all out in 92.2 overs): 316
Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-44, 3-115, 4-128, 5-169, 6-186, 7-230, 8-272, 9-282
Andhra bowling
Stephen 17.2-2-43-2, Sasikanth 23-5-75-3, Vijay 21-1+75-1, Manish 12-0-60-2, Tapaswi 2-0-5-0, Sandeep 13-1-24-1, Shinde 4-1-15-0.
Andhra 2nd innings: C.R.Gnaneshwar c Bishnoi b Tanveer 18, U.M.S.Girinath c Meneria b Aniket 1, Karan Shinde c Manender b Aniket 5, Ricky Bhui batting 31, K.S.Bharat c Meneria b Shubham 6, Y.Sandeep batting 32
Extras (b 2, lb 4, w 1): 7
Total (for four wkts. in 28 overs) 100
Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-25, 3-27, 4-41
Rajasthan bowling: Aniket 9-1-31-2, Tanveer 9-2-32-1, Shubham 5-1-20-1, Manav 4-1-10-0, Anirudh 1-0-1-0.