Prasanth ton sets strong base for Andhra

Prasanth Kumar's third first-class hundred led Andhra's cautious batting display against Himachal Pradesh in Visakhapatnam. Prasanth finished the day unbeaten on 113 off 265 balls with 13 fours.

Prasanth, captaining the side after Amol Muzumdar's departure from Andhra, endured the loss of opener KS Bharat early and stitched together a 75-run, second-wicket stand with Murumulla Sriram. Sriram and Bodapati Sumanth fell for 43 and 14 as Vikramjeet Malik and Bipul Sharma tried to wrest an advantage for Himachal. Prasanth and Gonnabattula Chiranjeevi thwarted Himachal with a 73-run stand for the fourth wicket, but Malik struck a few overs before the close of play, dismissing Chiranjeevi for 27.

Left-arm spinner Akshay Darekar and offpsinner Chirag Khurana picked up seven wickets between them to restrict Kerala to 151 in Tellicherry on the first day. Maharashtra were on track to overhauling that total as they finished the day at 106 for 1, with Harshad Khadiwale unbeaten on 67.

Darekar and Khurana dismissed the Kerala top-order to leave them reeling at 75 for 4. A fifth-wicket partnership between Robert Fernandez and Sachin Baby offered hope but the spinners struck in tandem between the 48th and 51st overs to reduce Kerala to 127 for 8. The last two wickets couldn't add too many runs between them as the hosts were dismissed for 151 in 57 overs.

Maharashtra's reply was confident as Khadiwale and Vijay Zol shared an opening stand of 92. Zol was dismissed a few overs before stumps, but Khadiwale held steady, scoring his third successive fifty.

Gokul Sharma's fourth first-class hundred, along with his eighth-wicket stand of 102 with Prasanta Sonowal lifted Assam from 150 for 7 to a respectable 263 against Jammu & Kashmir in Jammu.

Assam were dealt an early blow after being put in to bat as J&K pacer Mohammed Mudhasir bowled opener Rishav Das off the first ball of the match. The pacer struck regularly, picking four of Assam's first five wickets, as the batting side limped to 83 for 5. A 44-run, seventh-wicket stand between Assam captain, Abu Nechim, and Gokul tried to stem the flow of wickets, but it was the Sonowal-Gokul partnership that boosted Assam. Sonowal, playing his third first-class match after nearly two years, struck a handy 85-ball 40, while Gokul scored 108 off 203 balls. Mudhasir picked up his third five-for in as many matches this season to end with figures of 5 for 71.

Akshath Reddy narrowly missed out on a second successive first-class hundred, but his 99, and a fifty from Dwaraka Ravi Teja, led Hyderabad to a strong 234 for 3 on the first day of their match against Goa.

Hyderabad lost opener T Suman early after opting to bat but recovered through a 101-run, second-wicket partnership between Ravi Teja and Reddy. Ravi Teja scored his third fifty in a row before falling to Buddhadev Mangaldas. The Goa bowlers were made to toil for another breakthrough, however, as Reddy and Hanuma Vihari added 53 runs to keep Hyderabad on track for a big score. Once Harshad Gadekar had Reddy caught behind for 99, Vihari and Bavanaka Sandeep consolidated with an unbeaten 47 for the fourth wicket.