With an eye on the first innings lead, Tamil Nadu made a steady progress finishing at 122 for three against Andhra on the second day of their Group B Ranji Trophy clash at the CSR Sarma College grounds here on Wednesday.
Openers Kaushik Gandhi and the in-form Abhinav Mukund provided a good start to TN putting on 70. After a few edges that raced to the fence initially, the batsmen found their feet and started timing the ball nicely. Apart from hitting the boundaries, they also ran the quick singles to take the team to 53 for no loss at lunch.
Andhra bowlers came back strongly in the second session, troubling the opposition batsmen with their probing length. B. Ayyappa finally broke the growing partnership trapping Abhinav Mukund leg-before. Kaushik followed quickly caught by wicketkeeper Siva Charan off Girinath Reddy with the score at 80 in the 31st over.
Skipper B. Indrajith joined his twin brother Aparajith in the middle and, with the duo adopting a cautious approach, the next 10 overs yielded just 13 runs. However, Karthik Raman struck in the final over before tea when he had Indrajith edging one to Siva Charan.
The post-tea session saw Aparajith, whose form has been scratchy this season, trying to accelerate the scoring rate in the company of N. Jagadeesan, the centurion in the previous match against Hyderabad, when bad light halted their march with about an hour’s play still left for the day.
Earlier, TN dismissed Andhra, overnight 198 for eight, for 216. Girinath (86 not out) fended off the hat-trick ball, the first of the day, bowled by Sai Kishore. The left-arm spinner, however, bowled Ayyappa in his next over before Natarajan picked up the final wicket. Sai Kishore and Natarajan scalped three wickets apiece.
The scores: Andhra — 1st innings: Prashanth Kumar c Jagadeesan b Natarajan 4, Ashwin Hebbar c Kaushik b Mohammed 12, Sai Krishna c Vignesh b Mohammed 58, Ricky Bhui lbw Mohammed 22, B. Sumanth c Jagadeesan b Mohammed 1, Girinath Reddy (not out) 86, Siva Charan c Aparajith b Natarajan 0, Shoaib Mohammed b Sai Kishore 26, Sasikanth b Sai Kishore 0, Bandaru Ayyappa b Sai Kishore 0, Karthik Raman lbw Natarajan 0; Extras (nb-1, b-4, lb-2) 7, Total (in 89.5 overs).216.
Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-16, 3-56, 4-68, 5-141, 6-142, 7-195, 8-195, 9-205.
TN bowling: Vignesh 14-3-53-0, Mohammed 25-3-70-4, Natarajan 19.5-5-36-3, Kousik 16-8-22-0, Sai Kishore 15-5-29-3.
Tamil Nadu — 1st innings: Kaushik Gandhi c Siva Charan b Girinath 38, Abhinav Mukund lbw Ayyappa 31, B. Aparajith (batting) 27, B. Indrajith c Siva Charan b Karthik Raman 7, N. Jagadeesan (batting) 8; Extras (nb-6, b-4, lb-1) 11, Total (for three wkts, in 50 overs) 122.
Fall of wickets: 1-70, 2-80, 3-93.
Andhra bowling: Ayyappa 17-2-36-1, Sasikanth 12-1-33-0, Karthik Raman 12-1-38-1, Girinath 9-5-10-1.