Tamil Nadu, Andhra settle for a tame draw

The P Ramachandra Trophy Under-22 match involving Tamil Nadu and Andhra at the AC Tech College Ground in Chennai on Friday meandered to an inconclusive draw. Tamil Nadu who declared having scored 438 for nine, earned five points by virtue of the first innings lead while Andhra had to be content with three. So far, from two matches Tamil Nadu has got eight points and Andhra six.

Andhra, who were tottering at 100 for 7 at the end of the second day, managed to add a further 64 runs to their first innings total. The Andhra skipper IG Srinivas (53) was the topscorer while Y Venugopal Rao (37) and Gyneshwara Rao (21) chipped in with useful contributions. The Andhra lower order succumbed to the slow leftarmers of R Ramkumar (5 for 28).

Following on 274 runs behind, and with a draw their only hope, Andhra managed to hold the fort for 43 overs while scoring 128 for 2 when stumps were finally drawn. Ram Kumar was again among the wickets as he dismissed both openers Taher Hussain (7) and Anil Kumar (37). However Gyaneshwar Rao (41) and NM Khan (35) remained unbeaten while sharing a 58-run third wicket stand.

Earlier on the second day, Tamil Nadu continued from where they left off to pile up a huge total. Skipper SV Saravanan (86) and SS Viswanathan (30) added 89 runs for the fourth wicket in 21.5 overs.

With the score at 331, Viswanathan was caught by Khan off Faiq. Three balls later, Saravanan departed, caught by Taher Hussain off Srinivas.

R Satish (63) and K Manoharan put on 89 runs for the sixth wicket in 17.2 overs. Thereafter three more wickets fell for the addition of 13 runs when the Tamil Nadu skipper declared the innings.

In reply, Andhra were off to a bad start losing both the openers within eight balls. Taher Hussain was the first to go caught by Hemanth Kumar off Shrinivas off the second ball of the innings. Then off the fourth ball of the second over Anil Kumar was caught bu Ram Kumar off Balaji. Gyneshwar Rao (21) and Venugopal Rao (37) however added 64 runs for the third wicket in 17.5 overs.

At 66, Venugopal Rao was dismissed, caught by Manoharan off Bhatia. The next over was the exit of Gyneshwar Rao, caught by Vidyuth off Ram Kumar. Thereafter Andhra struggled to reach the 100-run mark while losing three more wickets at stumps.