Appanna rattles Andhra batting line up

Anantapur, Dec 25 (UNI) Andhra were restricted to 224 for nine, thanks to a fine bowling by rookie KP Appanna on the opening day of the the Ranji Elite Group-A match against Karnataka here today.

Appanna struck severe blows to Andhra by taking five wickets for 70 runs. Appanna, who had earlier taken 11 wickets in four matches in the season, first removed LN Prasada Reddy, the century maker against Baroda in the previous game, and sent three other batsmen Sumanth, Arjun Kumar and RVC Prasad to the pavilion in the space of 3.3 overs.

Barring the valuable century partnership of 125 runs between ASK Varma and skipper Y Venugopala Rao in 42.2 overs, there was not much resistance from the Andhra batsmen. Alluri Satya Kumar Verma, however, remained unbeaten with 89 in 318 balls, studded with eight hits to the fence and one sixer. Rao fell to the former Test cricketer and left-arm spinner Sunil Joshi, after making 69 off 130 balls with eight boundaries.

At this juncture, Appanna rattled the Andhra batting line-up, picking three wickets in the space of 10 runs. Andhra never recovered and finished the day with 224 for nine in 92.5 overs.

Score Board Andhra 1st innings MSK Prasad c Akhil b Binny 27 LNP Reddy c Akhil b Appanna 24 ASK Varma (batting) 89 Y VenugopalRao c Naidu b Joshi 69 Sumanth c Akhil b Appanna 00 Arjun Kumar c Akhil b Appanna 01 RVC Prasad c Akhil b Appanna 02 Sahabuddin lbw b Vinay Kumar 09 M Faiq c Raghu b Vinay Kumar 00 K.Krishna c Akhil B Appanna 00 Extras (lb 2, nb 1) 03 Total(9 wickets in 92.5 overs)224 Fall of wickets: 1-40, 2-62, 3-187, 4-190, 5-198, 6-200, 7-223, 8-223, 9-224.

Bowling : Vinay Kumar 16-6-34-2, Akhil 13-4-33-0, Sunil Joshi 28-5-57=1, Stuart Binny 13-5-24-1, Appanna 20.5-2-70-5, Raghu 2-0-4-0.

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