Twenty-two-year-old Shamsher Yadav’s patient knock of 136 (431b, 707m, 15x4, 1x6) and his fruitful 107-run sixth-wicket partnership with Rahul Singh (95 batting, 151b, 12x4) put Services in a commanding position at 400 for eight from 179 overs at the end of the second day’s play against Andhra in their Group-C Ranji Trophy tie at the Holkar Stadium here on Sunday.
The diminutive Yadav, a sailor with the Indian Navy, navigated the fortunes of this team astutely as he resolutely weathered the rival attack for more than 11 hours. His arduous stay in the middle was a fine exhibition of patience and purpose.
Yadav didn’t get carried away by the demoralised state of the rival side and did not try anything extravagant. He offered the full face of the bat to both spinners and pacers and meticulously gathered runs. With Raushan Raj he stitched a 60-run partnership for the fifth wicket and later with Rahul he consolidated his team’s progress.
Yadav reached his hundred in style. He first took a couple off Bhargav Bhatt before stepping out to hoist a huge six over long-off to reach his first century of the season.
Yadav then opened up his shoulders and what followed was a flurry of strokes especially against the spinners. He even reverse swept Bhatt to earn a disdainful look from the spinner. A momentary lapse of concentration led to his dismissal; a miscued hit was well taken by a diving Siva Kumar at long-off off Bhatt.
The in-form Rahul, who strode in after the fall of Raushan, played some attractive strokes to finish the day with an unbeaten 95.
For the Andhra bowlers it was yet another day of hardship and heartbreak as nothing went as per plan. The new ball did not do any magic and barring the two brilliant run outs — one by Ashwin Hebbar and the other by Ayyappa — it was nothing but sweat and toil in the first two sessions.
Andhra used as many as seven bowlers to stop the menacingly marching Servicemen. Siva Kumar donned the role of a spinner to disturb the concentration of the batsmen but in vain.
The scores:
Services — 1st innings: Anshul Gupta lbw b Ravi Teja 72, Sumit Chatterjee c Bharat b Stephen 12, Ravi Chauhan b Stephen 0, Shamsher U. Yadav c Siva b Bhatt 136, V.U. Yadav run out 16, Raushan Raj run out 27, Rahul Singh (batting) 95, Nakul Sharma c & b Bhatt 2, Azaruddin Bloch lbw b Ravi Teja 1, Diwesh Pathania (batting) 5; Extras (nb-12, w-3, b-12, lb-7): 34; Total (for eight wkts. in 179 overs): 400.
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-19, 3-159, 4-190, 5-250, 6-357, 7-371, 8-378.
Andhra bowling: D. Siva Kumar 26-12-37-0, Ch. Stephen 26-9-64-2, Bhargav Bhatt 66-20-132-2, B. Ayyappa 40-12-98-0, Ashwin Hebbar 7-2-24-0, D.B. Ravi Teja 13-4-24-2, D.B. Prasanth Kumar 1-0-2-0.
