Ranji Trophy: Bharat’s historical 300 puts Andhra in command

Ongole(Andhra Pradesh),07/02/2015,Saturday,-Darshan Misal(66)who saved the day for Goa aganist Andhra in the Ranji trophy groupcmatch at CSR sarma college grounds at Ongole on Saturday.-Photo:Kommuri Srinivas

Andhra medium-pacers delivered crippling blows, reducing Goa to 187 for eight in 52 overs at the end of the second day’s play in the Ranji Trophy Group ‘C’ fixture at the PDCA-CSR Sarma College ground here on Saturday.

Resuming at 408 for one, Andhra declared its innings at 548 for five in 123 overs after overnight batsman K.S. Bharat completed 300 runs — the first-ever by an Andhra batsman in the Ranji Trophy circuit.

Goa made a sedate start with Amogh Desai and skipper Swapnil Asnodkar stitching a 50-run partnership for the opening wicket. The 16th over saw the back of Swapnil, who failed to measure the length of a rising Stephen delivery.

With Sagun Kamat and Amogh Desai departing, the onus fell on in-form all-rounder Darshan Misal (66 runs, 84b, 10x4, 1x6) to initiate the rescue act.

However, his miscued sweep of Sivakumar saw his departure in the dying moments of the day. Vijaykumar was the pick of Andhra bowlers, taking three for 54.

Earlier, overnight batsman K.S. Bharat (308 runs, 311b, 38x4, 6x6) stitched a record second-wicket partnership of 333 runs with M.U.B. Sriram (144, 254b, 20x4, 1x6) for Andhra, eclipsing Amit Pathak and L.N. Prasad Reddy’s 223 against Goa at Kadapa in 1991.

The scores: Andhra — 1st innings: D.B. Prasanth c Kamat b Desai 63, K.S. Bharat c (sub) Deepraj b Mishal 308, M.U.B. Sriram c Desai b S. Naik 144, Naren Reddy c Vaz b Gawaz 1, Ricky Bhui lbw b V. Naik 10, D. Siva Kumar (not out) 2, A.G. Pradeep (not out) 4; Extras (lb-3, nb-3 w-10): 16; Total (for five wkts. decl. in 123 overs): 548.

Fall of wickets: 1-164, 2-497, 3-502, 4-535, 5-543.

Goa bowling: Saurabh Bandekar 23-2-110-0, Amogh Desai 15-4-52-1, Sagar Naik 22-0-109-1, Gauresh Gawaz 17-0-83-1, Darshan Misal 30-3-123-1, Vedant Naik 16-0-68-1.

Goa — 1st innings: Amogh Desai c Kaif b Vijaykumar 31, Swapnil Asnodkar lbw b Stephen 26, Sagun Kamat c Prasanth b Stephen 5, Snehal Kauthankar c Bharat b Vijaykumar 1, Darshan Misal c Bharat b Sivakumar  66, Keenan Vaz c Bharat b Vijaykumar 5, Samar Dubhashi c Bharat b Sivakumar 2, Saurabh Bandekar c Pradeep b Harish 7,  Vedant Naik (batting) 32, Gauresh Gawaz (batting) 0; Extras (nb-12): 12; Total (for eight wickets in 52 overs): 187.

Fall of wickets: 1-62, 2-68, 3-68, 4-81, 5-92, 6-116, 7-151, 8-173.

Andhra bowling: P. Vijaykumar 17-3-54-3, D. Siva Kumar 14-4-41-2, Ch. Stephen 12-2-41-2, Harish 9-1-51-1.