Andhra poised for compelling chase

Andhra lost three early wickets, but steadied to reach 99 for 3 in their chase of 233 at stumps against Goa in Dhanbad.

Goa had overturned their 34-run deficit early in the day, but found themselves 60 for 3 in the 16th over. An 88-run stand between Snehal Kauthankar (65) and Darshan Misal (32) steadied Goa’s innings, before Kauthankar’s wicket brought three more in a short span as Goa fell from 148 for 3 to 156 for 7. This was before allrounder Saurabh Bandekar and medium-pacer Rituraj Singh (33) counter-attacked with an eighth-wicket stand of 71 that came off just 9.4 overs. Bandekar then dominated a 49-run stand for the ninth wicket that took 9.1 overs, before eventually falling for 75 to the part-time offspin of Andhra captain Hanuma Vihari (3-17). Goa folded for 276.

Andhra lost three wickets for 36, before they put on a counter-attack of their own through an unbroken 63-run stand for the fourth wicket between DB Ravi Teja (35 off 46) and Ricky Bhui (32 off 44).

Tripura captain Manisankar Murasingh and part-time medium-pacer Sanjay Majumder took four wickets each as Kerala folded for 193 to concede the first-innings lead in Cuttack.

Kerala lost Bhavin Thakkar and Rohan Prem in the first two overs of the day. Mohammed Azharuddeen (41) and Jalaj Saxena (18) put on 50 for the third …

continue reading in source www.espncricinfo.com