Diminutive Tripura opener Subrajit Roy (81, 249b, 328m, 9x4) stood firm between Andhra and victory thus forcing the Group ‘C’ Ranji Trophy encounter to a tame draw at the Rural Development Trust stadium here on Monday.
Tripura, resuming at 21 for no loss in its second innings, was 170 for four in 88 overs when play was called off after the second mandatory over. Andhra finished the match with three points while Tripura garnered one.
Andhra wicket-keeper Vamsi Krishna must be ruing his luck as he failed to latch on to a sharp catch off Roy in the very first over of the day.
The bowler to suffer was Shahabuddin. Roy, from then on, grew in confidence and stayed put for more than five hours weathering the vagaries of the attack. Roy was compact in defence and used his feet flawlessly to the loose balls in a productive manner.
The pre-lunch session belonged to Andhra as it succeeded in knocking down three wickets. Medium-pacer Vijaya Kumar was impressive and he chipped in with the scalps of Samrat Singha and Udit Patel.
First innings centurion Abbas Ali committed hara-kiri by dashing off to a non-existent single only to be sent back by Roy and the throw by Sumanth from the covers was accurate.
The post-lunch session saw skipper Ajay Ratra and Roy occupying the crease in a defiant manner against some intimidating bowling. They put on 83 runs for the fourth wicket.
Andhra skipper kept shuffling his resources and deployed attacking field positions but in vain.
Both left-arm spinner Rajesh Pawar and offie Watekar proved ineffective as they failed to weave a web around the batsmen.
Andhra plays Himachal Pradesh at Amtar while Tripura will face Services at Agartala from November 17 to 21.
The scores:
Tripura — 1st innings: 260.
Andhra —1st innings: 436 for eight decl.
Tripura — 2nd innings: Subrajit Roy c Vamsi Krishna b Prashanth 81, Samrat Singha c Vamsi Krishna b Vijaya Kumar 20, Udit Patel c Pradeep b Vijaya Kumar 0, S. Abbas Ali (run out) 6, Ajay Ratra (not out ) 41, Abhishek Dey (not out) 9; Extras (b-4, lb-5, nb-4) 13; Total (for four wkts. in 88 overs ) 170.
Fall of wickets: 1-50, 2-50, 3-74, 4-157.
Andhra bowling: Atchutha Rao 17-6-42-0, Vijaya Kumar 17-9-23-2, Siva Kumar 10-3-21-0, Shahabuddin 13-2-22-0, Rajesh Pawar 19-6-29-0, Watekar 9-3-20-0, Prashanth 3-0-4-1.
