da 888casino： Hyderabad: After opting to bat first on a placid batting track at theGymkhana grounds, Andhra started quietly with no runs in the firstover
Blessington Thomas16-Nov-1999Hyderabad: After opting to bat first on a placid batting track at theGymkhana grounds, Andhra started quietly with no runs in the firstover. Vanka Pratap, sharing the new ball with Narenderpal Singh, tooka severe beating from the Andhra skipper Amit Pathak, with his firstcouple of overs costing him 20 runs, all scored in boundaries.Soon after Amit turned his attention towards N P Singh and continuedin the same vein, striking the bowler for 3 more fours to register thefirst 50 runs on the board in 51 minutes off 11.5 overs, Pathakcontibuting 38 of them in the company of L N Prasad Reddy. Reddy [16 ] lived a charmed life when Kanwaljeet could not hold on to areturn catch offered at 63 in the 19th over of the innings and 9th ofthe bowler.Venkatapathi Raju drew first blood with an arm ball to deceive AmitPathak who was clean bowled for an aggressive 56 off 73 balls in astay of 89 minutes. Nagini Kumar accompanied Reddy who loftedKanwaljeet over mid-wicket for a huge 6. Azharuddin replaced Raju atthe pavilion end as both Kanwaljeet and Raju were no threat to thebatsmen and struck immediately to trap Reddy in front of the wicketsto get an LBW decision from umpire Giridharan standing at the Pavilionend.Lunch was taken at 113 for 2 after 42 overs. Nineteen runs after theresumption Raju replaced Kanwaljeet and was successful in getting averdict of LBW in the first over of his second spell, bowling from thepavilion end. Venugopal who came in at the fall of Reddy found an ablepartner in R V Ch.Prasad and the two repaired the innings to givesolidity by adding 142 runs for the fourth wicket in less than eventime.The free stroking Prasad unleashed an array of strokes on either sideof the wicket to show the stuff he is made of, collecting 14 off 4balls in the first over of Vanka Pratap’s second spell after which hewas not bowled again, Pratap’s 3 overs costing his 34 runs. Venu andPrasad were together when Andhra went to tea at 210 for 3 after 75overs.Azharuddin also suffered the wrath of Prasad when he was belted for 3fours in 4 balls off a fresh over in his second spell, before thebowler had the last laugh when Nandakishore came up with a superbcatch at short leg. Prasad’s heroics lasted for 136 minutes and in105 balls he belted 13 fours as he scored a valuable 79 runs anddominated the partnership. Their association produced 142 runs in 136minutes off 33.5 overs.Azharuddin again struck, much to the relief of his regular bowlers,claiming I Srinivas well caught at silly point by Vinay Kumar. Thebatsman showed his disagreement with the Umpire [Giridharan] whilereturning back to the dressing room.Azharuddin [9-1-36-3] bettered hisbest bowling figures [ 9-2-22-2] against the same oppostion way backin the 1994-95 season. At close on day-1, Venugopala Rao [72] and K ST Sai [7] were at the crease. Hyderabad conceded 300 runs whichincluded as many as 37 fours and 1 six in bowling 97 overs.