Andhra take first innings points

Fine bowling by off spinner H Vatekar and an unbeaten century by opening batsman Krishna Mohan highlighted the final day's play in the Coca Cola Trophy South Zone (under-25) tournament between Andhra and Karnataka at the Chinnaswamy stadium at Bangalore on Wednesday. Andhra, which who came out better in the drawn game, took five points while Karnataka finished with three.

When play resumed in the morning, the stage seemed set for a keen tussle for the first innings lead. But Karnataka, who were 116 for two in reply to Andhra's 385 were dismissed for 269. The early dismissal of Prajwal Raj who added only one run to his overnight score before he was run out for 42 set them on the backfoot. The other not out batsman Sushanth and SP Shinde (42) however added 43 runs for the fourth wicket in 12.4 overs before the former was also run out for 68. Sushanth faced 106 balls and hit six of them to the ropes. There was a sixth wicket partnership of 56 runs between Shinde and skipper T Aditya (32) which raised hopes of Karnataka challenging strongly for the lead. But with the tail offering little resistance in the face of some inspired bowling by Vatekar, Karnataka slid from 228 for five to 269 all out. Vatekar finished with four for 59.

Andhra, with a lead of 116 runs, got some good batting practice in the second innings. Openers LNP Reddy (52) and Krishna Mohan hit 109 runs off 19.5 overs. Reddy faced 55 balls and hit four fours and a six. Krishna Mohan remained unbeaten with 105 after facing only 102 balls and hitting 15 fours and a six as Andhra were 179 for two when the match was called off after nine mandatory overs.

Andhra now meet Kerala from April 21 to 23.