News Express Service
CHENNAI: Half-centuries from Abhishek Reddy (85), Ricky Bhui (68) and Karan Shinde (55 batting) propelled Andhra to 277 from 90 overs against Tamil Nadu on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy at the SNR college ground. in Coimbatore.
Electing to bat, Andhra lost their opener Uppara Girinath cheaply to R Sai Kishore.
From there, Abhishek and Shaik Rasheed (37) played sensibly and created a good position worth 95 runs in 160 balls for the second wicket. The duo played ably against Tamil Nadu’s L Vignesh, and spinners Sandeep Warrier and Sai Kishore, Washington Sundar and S Ajith Ram.
Abhish played with confidence, using his feet well and his positive approach yielded good results. Rasheed gave good support to Abhishek.
Making his debut, Ajith looked full of energy as he searched for his first-class wicket. His patience was rewarded when he bowled Rasheed, giving the hosts the respite they needed. Later, Ajith took a good catch at square leg to dismiss Andhra captain Hanuma Vihari off the bowling of Vijay Shankar.
”I wasn’t nervous. I was mentally prepared to play at this level. The age group tournaments and the opportunity to bowl for the visiting Bangladesh team that toured Tamil Nadu prepared me for this level. The Bangladesh team had some international players in their ranks, so when I bowled against them, I learned how to bowl at the first-class level. Looking back, it was good preparation for the Ranji trophy,” Ajith said after the match.
Few youngsters get the chance to bowl against players with international experience. Ajit was delighted to share the field alongside experienced spinners like Washington and Sai Kishore. ”Yes, it was nice to bowl with all the senior players and they were helpful. Watching Sai Kishore closely, I learned how to make my variations and learn the art of taking wickets,” he said.
After stripping the Andhra top order of around 150 runs, the TN bowlers once again let the Andhra middle lower order put the runs on the board. Ricky and Karan added 119 runs for the fifth wicket. Ricky and Karan made a positive mark of cricket and rotated the strike brilliantly and helped their team finish the day’s match with respectability.
Towards the end of the day’s play, Ricky lost his concentration and paid the price as Jagadeesan was bowled by a well-flighted delivery from Sai Kishore.
”It was a good day for Andhra. I am happy with their approach. First Abhish got some runs, and Ricky made it strong. I expect Andhra to get around 400,” said former Andhra and India player Venugopala Rao.
However, Tamil Nadu head coach M Venkataramana praised the hard work put in by his bowlers and was confident that they would make progress early on Wednesday morning.
”I would say it was an even day for both sides. The batting surface was good and our bowlers worked very hard. At this level, nothing is easy. He cannot be expected to run in every side and every innings. The boys continued to work on the bowling and if you can see even at the end of the game, they got a breakthrough. All the boleros did well. I am happy with the bowling of Ajith Ram who made his debut today (Monday). He showed great confidence and is eager to learn and improve, which is a good sign,” said Venkataramana.