Andhra carved out a come-from-behind victory over Uttarakhand in the Col CK Nayudu Trophy at the Highlanders Sports Academy in Kashipur on Friday.
Andhra, who had conceded a 15-run first innings lead, fought back admirably through Haneesh Reddy and Munnangi Abhinav. The duo had struck centuries in the second innings on Thursday to give Andhra a chance of victory.
Uttarakhand were set a target of 380, but they lost four wickets on the penultimate day to end with 99 on the board. On the final day, Uttarakhand ended up with 233 and conceded a conceded a 146-run win to their rivals.
Resuming play on the final day, Uttarakhand had a tall task on hand. They still needed 281 but had only six wickets in hand. Uttarakhand’s biggest hope was skipper Harsh Rana, who was batting on 34.
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Pacer B Yashwanth struck an immediate blow in the second over of the day as he had Ujjwal Dabral caught by substitute L Lakshmia Narayana for his overnight score of six.
Harsh and Nishu Patel then steadied the innings with a 46-run partnership for the sixth wicket, but it was increasingly becoming difficult to negotiate the Andhra bowlers, who were willing to play the wait and watch game.
Nishu Patel succumbed to Hemanth Kumar for a 41-ball 8. Shashank Pant joined Harsh in the middle, and they kept the Andhra bowlers at bay for nearly 17 overs and added 55 for the seventh wicket. Off-spinner T Varun Satwik got the breakthrough when he had Shashank caught by substitute fielder L Lakshmi Narayana for 27 off 53 balls with three fours and a six.
Harsh waged a lone battle as he kept one end up but Andhra kept pegging away at the other end. Harsh and Rakshit Rohi added 31 for the eighth wicket before disaster struck Uttarakhand. Rohi was run out by GSP Teja for 11 off 40 balls with a six.
With just the tail left, Harsh tried to step up the pace but was unsuccessful. He was caught by Yashwanth off Satwik for a fighting 112 off 195 balls with 16 fours. His departure sealed the matter as Satwik had Aryan Garg (0) caught by substitute KSS Jayanth to end the Uttarakhand innings at 233 in 72.5 overs. Aditya Rawat was unbeaten on 1.
Yashwanth took three for 37 and Satwik bagged three for 22. Hemanth Kumar grabbed two for 69 and Sri Vardhan took one for 12.
Brief scores: Andhra 161 & 394 for nine declared beat Uttarakhand 176 & 233 in 72.5 overs (Harsh Rana 112, Shashank Pant 27; B Yashwanth 3/37, Hemanth Kumar 2/69, Varun Satwik 3/22).
