Andhra registered yet another outright victory – its third of the season – when it defeated Tripura by an innings and eight runs in the Group ‘C’ Ranji Trophy tie at PDCA-CSR Sarma College Grounds in Ongole on the penultimate day.
Andhra pocketed seven points, including a bonus point, and now it has accumulated 21 points out of five outings.
Resuming at 13 for three, Tripura failed to wipe out the first innings deficit of 159 and fell short of eight runs in 59th over.
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Barring diminutive wicket-keeper Nirupam Sen Chowdary (42), no Tripura batsman could stay in the middle for a longer duration. Nirupam forged two partnerships – 38 (7th wicket) with Kaushal Acharjee and 31 (8th wicket) with Manishankar Murasingh to bring some respectability to the team’s total.
Both Rakesh Solanki and Abhijit Dey started the day’s proceedings in a cautious manner and scored just 22 runs in the first 50 minutes. But the fall of Solanki to an extravagant stroke off Stephen saw Tripura losing two wickets in quick succession.
Skipper Kaif’s move to bring in part-time spinner Ricky Bhui paid off as he saw the back of the last wicket - Sanjoy Mazumder - in his very first ball when the batsman unleashed a miscued hit.
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“We played positive cricket. Both batsman and bowlers did their job according to the situation. We are happy we are making use of the home conditions effectively,” said Andhra coach Mukund Parmar.
Tripura coach Bhaskar Pillai felt the injury to medium pacer Murasingh had a telling effect on the team’s progress. “He strained his hip which bothered him while delivering the ball”.
Bhaskar said the top order batsmen did not show right temperament and threw away their wickets at crucial junctures.
Andhra medium pacer Siva Kumar was declared man of the match for his 11 wicket haul in the match (11 for 84).
Andhra will play Himachal Pradesh at Dharmasala while Tripura will play against Kerala at Agartala from January to 24.
SCOREBOARD
Tripura: 1st innings - 151
Andhra: 1st innings - 310
Tripura2nd innings : Bishal Ghosh lbw Vijaykumar 5; Udiyan Bose lbw Sivakumar 4; Abhijit Dey b. Sivakumar 14; Abhijit Sarkar c Bharat b Sivakumar 0; Rakesh Solanki c Bharat b Stephen 14; Rajesh Banik c Prasanth b Vijaykumar 3; Kaushal Acharjee b Stephen 18; Nirupam Sen Chowdary c Kaif b Sivakumar 42; Manishankar Murasingh c Harish b Stephen 13; Rana Datta (not out) 15; Sanjoy Majumder c Sriram b Bhui 11
Extras (nb-10, b-1, lb-1): 12; Total (in 58.1 overs) 151
Fall of wickets : 1-7, 2-12, 3-13, 4-45, 5-45, 6-47, 7-85, 8-116, 9-135.
Andhra bowling : P. Vijaykumar 15-8-22-2, D. Sivakumar 19-7-54-4, Ch. Stephen 19-5-51-3, K. Harish 5-0-22-0, Ricky Bhui 0.1-0-0-1.
Result : Andhra won by an innings and eight runs
Points Andhra 7 – Tripura 0.
Man of the match : D. Sivakumar