Andhra complete five-wicket win over Rajasthan

Andhra's hopes of staying in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group in the next season received a boost when they trounced Rajasthan in a sixth round encounter that ended at Vishakapatnam on Sunday . The five-wicket win that the hosts earned, secured them two points, taking their cumulative tally to three points from six matches.

The win came after Rajasthan, who resumed at 264/6, lost four second innings wickets for the adition of just 18 runs. This left Andhra with 224 runs to get to seal the match.

The hosts made an inauspicious beginning losing their first two wickets for just 30 runs. But after Fayaz Ahmed (33) and Y Venugopal Rao (30) laid the foundations, skipper MSK Prasad (62*) and IG Srinivas (66) consolidated, taking their team to the doorstep of victory. Despite Srinivas' dismissal at 203/5, Prasad stayed on to guide his team to a much-needed win.

In another sixth round encounter in Delhi, the hosts fought back valiantly against Bengal on the second day. After being dismissed for 164 in their first innings on the first day, Delhi led by medium-pacer Amit Bhandari restricted Bengal to just 169. Subhomoy Das, who resumed the day on 43, was the top-scorer for the visitors with 66.

When Delhi batted a second time, openers Gautam Gambhir (93*) and Akash Chopra (94) gave them a strong start, putting on 196 for the first wicket. When stumps were drawn, Delhi, then, were 198/1.

Mumbai, meanwhile, have earned a healthy 136-run lead over Himachal Pradesh by the end of the second day of another Elite Group sixth round match at the Wankhede Stadium.

The hosts, who resumed the day at 20/1, after having bowled out Himachal for 254 on the first day, reached 390/8 by stumps. The match, which was going neck and neck when the seventh Mumbai wicket fell, was turned the hosts' way by a 133-run eight wicket partnership between Vinayak Samant (76) and Ramesh Powar (85*). At stumps, debutant Usman Malvi (32*) was keeping Powar company.

At the Gymkhana Ground, Secunderabad, defending champions Railways continued their poor showing in the 2002-03 season. They were made to follow-on after conceding a massive 224-run first-innings lead in their match against Hyderabad.

In the morning, Hyderabad, who resumed their first innings at 282/7, extended their total to 355 before being dismissed. Shivaji Yadav, who resumed on 21, went on to make 59 not out. For Railways, Harvinder Singh claimed five wickets while Murali Kartik snared four.

Needing to apply themselves stay in the match, Railways failed miserably, being shot out for just 131. Shreyas Khanolkar (33) and Yere Goud (48) were the only two batsmen to offer any resistance against medium-pacer Narender Pal Singh (5/90) and Shivaji Yadav (4/34). Following on, Delhi made a better start to their second essay, reaching 71/0 when stumps were drawn. Openers Khanolkar and Pagnis were batting on 51 and 18 respectively.

In another sixth round match at the Nehru Stadium, Guwahati, Tamil Nadu played themselves into a position of strength against Assam. The hosts piled on 508 to leave Assam with the daunting task of making 359 to avoid a follow-on. By the end of the second day, the hosts made an encouraging start, reaching 77/1.

Vasanth Saravanan, who made 81, was the batting star for Tamil Nadu on a day, when the two overnight not out batsmen S Suresh (132) and Hemang Badani (115) were dismissed early. For Assam, left-arm spinner Sukhvinder Singh claimed 5-129.