Andhra strike back after being rolled over for 195

On a day of fast moving developments, Andhra, recovering from a disappointing first innings effort of 195, reduced Karnataka to 90/4 by stumps in a South Zone Ranji Trophy clash at Belgaum on Wednesday. It was only the second first-class tie at the Union Gymkhana Ground here, the first which took place thirty years ago between the same opponents ended in an innings victory for the hosts.

On this occasion Andhra skipper Amit Pathak beat his Karnataka counterpart J Arun Kumar, making his debut as skipper, over the toss and elected to take first strike. There were only two partnerships of substance in the entire innings as the Karnataka bowlers never let slip their ascendancy over the proceedings. Openers Pathak and LNP Reddy added 42 for the first wicket before both were removed in successive overs by speedster Mansur Ali Khan.

Spinners Anand Yalvigi and Santosh Vadiaraj then combined to vanquish the middle order. Teenager Venugopala Rao had been the bulwark of the innings but when he was bowled by Vadiaraj for 42, it left Andhra in a pickle at 126/7. Sahabudin and Watekar added 45 for the eighth wicket to lend a tone of respectability to the total before the two opening bowlers, Ganesh and Khan returned to close out the innings for 195 in the 62nd over. Both Vadiaraj and Khan scalped three wickets each.

Back on the field with the new ball in his hand, Sahabuddin sliced through the Karnataka top order with a damaging spell. After taking out Mithun Beerala for 10, he bided his time for a while before dismissing skipper Arun Kumar and Sujith Somasunder - the latter for a duck - in successive overs. Without the reassuring presence of Vijay Bharadwaj - away in Faridabad for the Board President XI's clash with Zimbabwe - Barrington Rowland and Thilak Naidu strove to restore the host team's dominance. Their rally was nipped shortly before stumps when Vatekar took a return catch to send back Rowland and ensure an intriguing second day's play on Thursday.