Abbas Ali frustrates Andhra

A stroke-filled unbeaten 103 (281m, 187b, 15x4) by Abbas Ali helped Tripura finish the first day at 228 for six in 90 overs against Andhra in the Group ‘C’ match at the Rural Development Trust stadium here on Friday.

The 36-year-old former MP batsman played an innings of character and dominated the last two sessions. He batted attractively and was particularly deft with his square and straight drives. His foot work against both the medium-pacers and spinners was very impressive.

Useful partnerships

Abbas Ali was involved in three useful partnerships — with skipper Ajay Ratra (32), Abhishek Dey (54) and D.D. Chowdary (57).

Earlier, Tripura, electing to bat on a strip that was bereft of grass, lost its opener in the very second over of the day when Subhrajit Roy played across to Atchutha Rao only to see his off-stump being knocked out.

Both Udit Patel and Samrat Singha tackled 20-odd overs but both were over-cautious while playing the medium-pacers.

Udit was caught behind while Samrat’s 145-minuite ordeal ended few minutes before lunch. The routine move to bring in a spinner before the close of a session paid dividend.

Skipper Pradeep brought in left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar and off the very first ball, the diminutive spinner had Samrat caught by Prashanth at silly point. At lunch, Tripura was 61 for three in 35 overs.

Among the Andhra bowlers Vijaya Kumar sent down 27 overs but without luck. He could have had Abbas two overs before tea but Watekar failed to latch on to the chance at first slip. Andhra made one change, bringing in medium-pacer Vijaya Kumar in place of leg-spinner Bharat Reddy, while Tripura brought in middle-order batsman D.D. Chowdary for R. Saha.

The scores: Tripura — 1st innings: Samrat Singha c Prashanth b Pawar 15, Subhrajit Roy b Atchutha Rao 0, Udit Patel c Vamsi Krishna b Siva Kumar 26, Abbas Ali (batting) 103, Ajay Ratra c Vamsi Krishna b Siva Kumar 27, Abhijit Dey lbw b Shahabuddin 17, Debabrata Chowdary c Watekar b Shahabuddin 20, M. Mora Singh (batting) 5; Extras (b-12, lb-2, w-1): 15; Total (for six wkts. in 90 overs): 228.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-40, 3-54, 4-86, 5-140, 6-197.

Andhra bowling: Shahabuddin 15-4-44-2, Atchutha Rao 13-4-33-1, Vijaya Kumar 25-12-38-0, Siva Kumar 20-11-40-2, Rajesh Pawar 14-1-46-1, Amol Mazumdar 3-1-13-0.