Ranji Trophy: Jayant shows his mettle as Chhattisgarh takes opening-day honours

The Mulapadu pitch offered plenty of assistance to the spinners, and veteran Jayant Yadav made the most of it to put Chhattisgarh in front against Andhra on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group B fixture at DVR Ground on Monday.

Off-spinner Jayant claimed four for 75 as Chhattisgarh bowled Andhra out for 231 before ending the day at 35 for one. Captain Anuj Tiwary and Mayank Verma saw out the final 30 minutes after Ayush Pandey fell short of his crease attempting a needless quick single.

Earlier, Andhra immediately regretted batting first as opener Hemanth Reddy was caught at point off Dev Aditya Singh in the second over. He was the only batter to fall to a pacer, with Chhattisgarh turning to spin early.

Ajay Mandal lured Abhishek Reddy out of his crease with a flighted delivery that turned away, leaving him stumped. Dharmendra Jadeja had Karan Shinde edge one to leg slip while in the next over, Shaik Rasheed nicked one off Jayant to first slip.

Captain Ricky Bhui tried to counterattack with a down-the-track six and a sweep, but his aggressive use of the feet eventually backfired as he was stumped off Jadeja. Mandal bowled Revanth Reddy to leave Andhra six down in the first session.

S.V. Rahul and K.V. Sasikanth began the recovery with a 61-run stand off 126 balls. But just when Andhra seemed to have revived its innings, Jayant had Sasikanth and Saurabh Kumar in quick succession to gain back the control.

Rahul found another partner in T. Vijay, and the pair added 40 runs off 84 balls, sticking to the same cautious approach. Mandal, however, breached Vijay’s defence.

Rahul, on 89 (173b, 7x4, 1x6), fell when trying to up the ante against Jayant as the offie marked his return to the XI with an immediate impact.

The scores: Andhra — 1st innings: Hemanth Reddy c Jadeja b Aditya 2, Abhishek Reddy st. Pradhan b Mandal 23, Shaik Rasheed c Anuj b Jayant 24, Karan Shinde c Jayant b Jadeja 7, Ricky Bhui st. Pradhan b Jadeja 23, S.V. Rahul c Jadeja b Jayant 89, Revanth Reddy b Mandal 2, K.V. Sasikanth c Vikalp b Jayant 31, Saurabh Kumar c Pradhan b Jayant 5, T. Vijay b Mandal 20, Lalith Mohan (not out) 0; Extras (b-4, lb-1): 5; Total (in 73.2 overs): 231.

Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-37, 3-58, 4-64, 5-105, 6-114, 7-175, 8-185, 9-225.

Chhattisgarh bowling: Warrier 3-0-19-0, Aditya 3-1-10-1, Mandal 22-1-56-3, Jadeja 25-1-66-2, Jayant 20.2-2-75-4.

Chhattisgarh — 1st innings: Ayush Pandey run out 13, Anuj Tiwary (batting) 11, Mayank Verma (batting) 7; Extras (b-4): 4; Total (for one wkt. in 14 overs): 35.

Fall of wickets: 1-14.

Andhra bowling: Saurabh 7-4-11-0, Vijay 6-2-19-0, Mohan 1-0-1-0.