Ranji Trophy: 24 wickets tumble on Day 1 as Punjab marginally ahead of Andhra

PATIALA: Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sourav Ganguly - a great advocate of sporting wickets in domestic circuit - should have been here to see the ground reality of pitches in Ranji Trophy. As many as 24 wickets fell on Day 1 in the Punjab versus Andhra Ranji Trophy group A clash on a sandpit at the Dhruv Pandove Stadium.
The pitch is the same that was used in the 2018-19 CK Nayudu Trophy final in which Punjab defeated Bengal by a wicket in a match that lasted less than two days.The way the pitch is behaving, it looks like this match too will be over by lunch on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Andhra won the toss and opted to bat - a wrong choice in hindsight. They were bundled out for 97 runs. In reply, Punjab were no better, bowled out for 108 runs. Andhra in their second innings were reeling at 31 for 4 at stumps.
The highlight of the day - other than the wickets - was Siddharth Kaul's hat-trick. The medium pacer wrapped up Andhra's first innings just after lunch break with three-inch perfect yorkers. All three batsmen KV Sasikanth (20), Swaroop Kumar and S Ashish were clean bowled with their middle stump cartwheeling. This was Kaul's 15th five-wicket haul in the first-class cricket and third in the Ranji Trophy season.
Kaul was ably-supported by left-arm spinner Vinay Chaudhary (3/28). Chaudhary bowled 20 out of the 39.4 overs of Andhra's innings. Off-spinner Krishan Alang (2/31) bagged two wickets on is debut.
For Andhra, B Sumanth (22) was the top scorer. It was Andhra's first total of less than 100 in the Ranji season
Andhra's spin duo of Shoaib Mohammed (5/46) and S Ashish (5/50) put Punjab in serious trouble, with the hosts slipping from 62 for 3 to 77 for 7. The Andhra spinners gave themselves a realistic chance of a first-innings lead. But Punjab's wicketkeeper batsmen Anmol Malhotra (21) stitched 18-runs for the eighth wicket with Mayank Markande and then added 13-runs for the last wicket with Krishan Alang.
Off-spinner Shoaib registered his first five-wicket haul, while left-arm spinner S Ashish bagged a fifer on his debut.
Punjab's skipper Mandeep Singh, who is also the leading scorer for Punjab in this season, was again the top scorer for his team with 23 runs. But the 21 runs scored by Anmol Malhotra were the most precious for the hosts.
Punjab's Vinay Chaudhary struck with the first ball of Andhra's second innings, trapping Prashanth Kumar for a duck. The Andhra opener had failed to open his account in both the innings on a single day. Chaudhary cleaned up CR Gnaneshwar in his second over with the ball keeping very low. M Pranith too perished shortly as Mandeep took a regulation catch at first slip. Leg-spinner Mayank Markande, who went wicket less in the first innings, had B Sumanth stumped. Skipper Ricky Bhui (8) was at the crease with Andhra leading by 20 runs.
Scoreboard
Andhra 1st innings: CR Gnaneshwar lbw b Choudhary 0, DB Prasanth b Kaul 0, M Pranith lbw b Kaul 5, RK Bhui (c) st Malhotra b Choudhary 11, B Sumanth lbw b Krishan Alang, K Karan Shinde st Malhotra b Krishan Alang 16, UMS Girinath lbw b Choudhary 1, Shoaib Md Khan not out 16, KV Sasikanth b Kaul 20, D Swaroop Kumar b Kaul 0, S Ashish b Kaul 0
Extras: 6 (b 5, lb 1)
Total: 97 all out in 39.4 overs
Fow: 1-0 (Prasanth Kumar, 3.1 ov), 2-0 (CR Gnaneshwar, 4.1 ov), 3-16 (Ricky Bhui, 10.3 ov), 4-16 (Manyala Pranith, 11.3 ov), 5-52 (Karan Shinde, 23.2 ov), 6-59 (Uppara Girinath, 26.4 ov), 7-61 (Bodapati Sumanth, 27.3 ov), 8-97 (KV Sasikanth, 39.2 ov), 9-97 (Dasari Swaroop Kumar, 39.3 ov), 10-97 (S Ashish, 39.4 ov)
Bowling: VI Choudhary20-8-28-3, S Kaul 9.4-4-24-5, Krishan Alang 7-1-31-2, M Markande 3-1-8-0
Punjab 1st Innings: Abhijeet Garg lbw b Ashish 10, Sanvir Singh lbw b Shoaib Md Khan 0, Gurkeerat Singh c Sumanth b Shoaib Md Khan 17, Mandeep Singh (c) c Karan Shinde b Ashish 23, Anmolpreet Singh c Girinath b Shoaib Md Khan 13, Abhishek Gupta lbw b Ashish 9, A Malhotra c Karan Shinde b Shoaib Md Khan 21, VI Choudhary lbw b Ashish 0, M Markande c Girinath b Ashish 4, S Kaul lbw b Shoaib Md Khan 0, Krishan Alang not out 2
Extras: 9 (b 4, lb 1, nb 4)
Total: 108 all out in 35.2 overs
FOW: 1-2 (Sanvir Singh, 1.4 ov), 2-16 (Abhijeet Garg, 6.6 ov), 3-46 (Gurkeerat Singh Mann, 11.6 ov), 4-62 (Mandeep Singh, 14.6 ov), 5-70 (Anmolpreet Singh, 17.1 ov), 6-76 (Abhishek Gupta, 20.1 ov), 7-76 (Vinay Choudhary, 20.4 ov), 8-94 (Mayank Markande, 26.5 ov), 9-95 (Siddarth Kaul, 27.2 ov), 10-108 (Anmol Malhotra, 35.2 ov)
Bowling: KV Sasikanth 2-0-7-0, Shoaib Md Khan 17.2-0-46-5, S Ashish 16-1-50-5
Andhra 2nd Innings: DB Prasanth lbw b Choudhary 0, CR Gnaneshwar b Choudhary 5, M Pranith c Mandeep Singh b Choudhary 13, RK Bhui (c) not out 8, B Sumanth c Malhotra b Markande 1
Extras: 4 (b 4)
Total: 31 for 4 in 9.2 oversYet to bat: D Swaroop Kumar, K Karan Shinde, UMS Girinath, KV Sasikanth, S Ashish, Shoaib Md Khan
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Prasanth Kumar, 0.1 ov), 2-9 (CR Gnaneshwar, 2.2 ov), 3-24 (Manyala Pranith, 6.6 ov), 4-31 (Bodapati Sumanth, 9.2 ov)
Bowling: VI Choudhary 5-1-11-3, S Kaul 1-0-6-0, M Markande 3.2-0-10-1