Saurashtra pile on Andhra's agony, extend lead to 658

Saurashtra batted Andhra out of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal by extending their overall lead to a mammoth 658 runs on Sunday. By stumps on the fourth day, Saurashtra had made 375 for nine in their second innings. Resuming on overnight 93 for 2, the visiting team piled on the runs on a rather dull day with three batsmen making half-centuries, to ensure they are almost through to the semifinals.

Last year's runner-up Saurashtra had made 419 in the first innings before bundling out Andhra for 136 and chose not to enforce follow-on. With the track not offering much assistance it was a toil for the Andhra attack which missed the services of injured pacer Y Prithvi Raj. Perak Mankad, who made 85 in the first innings, hit 80 in their second innings and in the company of left-arm spinner Dharmendrasinh Jadeja (60), frustrated the Andhra bowlers.

After Barot and Vishvarajsinh Jadeja (35 batting) resumed in the morning, Andhra had some early success when the latter fell leg-before to Smd Rafi after adding 11 runs to his score. Barot looked good for more before being bowled by Rafi for 54. It was then the turn of Mankad and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja to trouble the Andhra bowlers and put the game beyond their reach. Part-time bowler Jyothi Sai Krishna (4/47) and Rafi (3/92) were rewarded for their hard work.

Brief scores

Saurashtra 419 all out in 146.5 overs (Chirag Jani 121, Perak Mankad 80, Vishvarajsingh Jadeja 73, Sheldon Jackson 50; Prithvi Raj Yarra 3/51, K V Sasikanth 3/149) and 375 for 9 in 123 overs (Perak Mankad 85, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 60, Avi Barot 54, Vishvarajsinh Jadeja 46; Jyothi Sai Krishna 4/47, Smd Rafi 3/92) vs Andhra 136 all out in 78.2 overs (C R Gnaneshwar 43, Ricky Bhui 28, K S Bharat 26; Jaydev Unadkat 4/42, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja 3/27).