Advantage Andhra

Andhra was sitting pretty and look poised for taking a crucial first innings lead at stumps on the second day of their Ranji match against Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium here on Monday.

After the host was dismissed for a paltry 221 in 76 overs, Andhra went to stumps at 85 for the loss of one wicket. They trail Hyderabad first innings score by 136 runs with nine wickets in hand.

Although, the visitors exploited the wicket quite admirably, Hyderabad bowlers did not make any impact in the 30 overs they bowled.

Earlier, resuming the day at 44 for two, Hyderabad batsmen failed to tackle the combined attack of K S Shahabuddin (4/45) and D Shiva Kumar (3/27).

It was only G Hanuma Vihari (75) and Amol Shinde (52) who brought about a sense of respectability to the score after dropping anchor. The latter was more flamboyant with his knock that came from 97 balls and contained six hits to the fence and two heaves over the ropes. Vihari was more sedate in that his innings was laced with ten hits to the fence and one six and it came from 165 balls.

A crucial day awaits both the teams if they have to make any headway in their respective Plate division progress. The wickets might be quite different as there was no rain for the second successive day.

Brief scores: Hyderabad 221 in 76 overs (G H Vihari 75, Amol Shinde 52, Habeeb Ahmed 35, K S Shahabuddin 4/45, D Shiva Kumar 3/27, S K M Basha 2/43) Vs Andhra 85 for 1 in 30 overs (K S Bharath 29, DB Prasanth 32no, M Suresh 17no).