The stand-in skipper Ricky Bhui turned out to be the stand out batter for Andhra Pradesh as he relished the responsibility to carve out a patient unbeaten century (109 batting) that carried his team to a position of strength against Services in the Ranji Trophy Group E match at the KCA-St. Xavier's College ground here on Thursday.
Andhra, after opting to bat, was 277 for three at stumps on the opening day. Karan Shinde (71 batting) overcame early jitters to give solid support to his captain.
The unbroken fourth-wicket stand between Ricky and Karan Shinde has so far added 158 runs to frustrate Services and it enabled Andhra recover from a bad start.
Services failed to take a wicket in the post tea session as both Ricky and Karan Shinde wore down the attack with their watchful knocks.
Ricky eschewed his aggression and played with lot of maturity. The only time he showed some impatience was when he neared the three figure mark. But Ricky survived the testing period to score his second century at this venue.
However, it was a 70-run third wicket stand between Ricky and U.M.S. Girinath' which laid the path of Andhra's recovery.
Bhui was very much the silent partner in that stand. Girinath played a counter attacking innings to enable Andhra wrest control after Services medium pacers had made early inroads.
Gnaneshwar was bowled for a duck in the first over by Diwesh Pathania. The under-19 World Cupper Shaik Rasheed played a few crisp drives which oozed class but Poonam Poonia bowled the perfect out-swinger to induce the edge, which was gobbled by Rajat Paliwal in the slips.
Andhra was reduced to 49/2 but Girinath took the attack by scurff of the neck. He took on the medium pacers, who were bowling a probing spell, and struck three boundaries off an over from Pathania to show his intent. Poonia took a reflex catch off his own bowling to end Girinath's knock soon after lunch.
However, the stubborn fourth-wicket pair denied any further success to Services bowlers.
The score
Andhra - Ist innings: C.R.Gnaneshwar b Pathania 0, U.M.S.Girinath c & b Poonia 53, Shaik Rasheed c Paliwal b Poonia 23, Ricky Bhui batting 109 Karan Shinde batting 72
Extras (lb 10, nb 9, w 2) 21
Total (for three wkts. in 90 overs): 277
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-49, 3-119
Services bowling:
Pathania 19-1-63-1, Yadav 16-4-41-0, Poonia 19-2-55-2, Sharma 23-0-73-0, Narang 12-2-34-0, Paliwal 1-0-1-0.
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