WHILE Karun Nair's unbeaten 155 helped Karnataka avoid defeat, Andhra walked away with three points from their first match of the Ranji Trophy season in Mulapadu near Vijayawada on Wednesday. Nair, batting on 81, went on to score an unbeaten 155 before the visitors declared with the score on 9/337 after lunch. Andhra finished with 104/4 in 44 overs before the match ended in a draw.
"We were definitely eyeing an outright result if we could. Obviously, a straight win would have been great, but we couldn't get wickets in regular intervals. It was a really hard-fought game throughout," coach Gary Stead told this daily.
The New Zealander credited Nair for his stellar knock even as Andhra kept their eyes on the result. "We played very good cricket at times, and I think the team will gain confidence from it. Karnataka was one of the highest-strength teams in our pool, so being able to take a first-innings lead against them is a positive result," Stead said. "We took (Ravichandran) Smaran's wicket early off a fantastic catch. Then Karun batted beautifully today (Wednesday), putting partnerships on with everyone he batted with, right down to the lower order. It was impressive to watch, and he played very well to deny us the victory," he added.
The biggest positive for Andhra was the fight from youngsters Revanth Reddy (97 & 20 n.o) and SV Rahul (119 & 35 n.o). It helped the home team secure the lead. "I am delighted for both of them. They both had two very important innings. Their first-innings partnership of 202 was fantastic and rescued us in a way, and then in the last session today, they batted through with nice composure with a lot of men around the bat. It is very pleasing and heartening to see how they are developing," Stead explained. "I believe in being positive and trying to work with the player to get the very best out of them. With Rahul, for the first game of his career, the way he played, you would think he had been there as a veteran. He played beautifully, and I am so pleased for him," he added.
Moving into the second round with three points, Andhra will take on the Mohammed Siraj-led Hyderabad, who beat Tripura in their first match. Stead is happy to be staying back in Mulapadu for their second game — a venue they know and understand well — but will rely on his players to gear up for the all-important clash that will begin on October 18. "I guess the good thing for us is that we are back at Mulapadu. We sort of know the pitch and know the ground well, which I think is an advantage for us. I haven't seen Hyderabad play before, but I will be leaning on a number of our players to be able to give us that feedback. They have obviously had a win in their first round, so it is exciting that we can go and compete against them," he signed off.