CHENNAI: Shaik Rasheed had just gotten out. The scoreboard, in Mulapadu, read Andhra 64/4 in 16.5 overs against Chhattisgarh on Day 1 of the Ranji Trophy match. The hosts, in their third home game on a turning pitch, were under trouble. And needed someone to put his hands up and step up.
Enter SV Rahul. The centurion from the first match against Karnataka joined hands with skipper Ricky Bhui and built a partnership. The left-hander took the attack to the two left-arm spinners from Chhattisgarh — Ajay Mandal and Dharmendrasinh Jadeja — who were deployed to dismantle the Andhra batting line-up. He played positive cricket and held the innings together even as wickets kept falling at the other end.
Even when Jayant Yadav, veteran offie, tried to make the most of the conditions against the left-hander, Rahul focussed on disrupting his lengths as he took Andhra past the 200-run mark. By the time he fell as the last wicket for a well-fought 89 from 173 balls, Andhra were 231 in 73.2 overs. For the visitors, Jayant took 4/75 in 20.2 overs. In response, the hosts opened the bowling with spinners and the first wicket came as a courtesy of a run out as Chhattisgarh finished with 35/1 in 14 overs.
Rahul was understandably pleased with his innings. "It was a turning track. Just wanted to play with a good intent where bowlers cannot bowl in the right areas," he told this daily after the day's play. "Regardless of scoring that century, I wanted to score as many runs as possible for that last wicket. It was not the kind of pitch to take the game into next day. You cannot play time, you have to go for runs at some point," he explained.
Rahul built partnerships with Bhui, KV Sasikanth and T Vijay, in all of it, his role was to take on the left-arm spinners. "If there are any two left-arm spinners, I would like to take the challenge to the left-arm spinners. I can play comfortably against them. And with Jayant Yadav, I just wanted to disrupt his lengths. He's tried to bowl a lot to me, but I was trying not to let him bowl where he wanted," Rahul reflected on the tactics.
The 19-year-old, while making it clear that the pitch will lead to a result, felt taking wickets at the right time would be crucial for the hosts who are looking to bounce back after the loss against Hyderabad in the previous match. "It's all about taking wickets at the right time. It's always important the first innings lead, how you save runs, keeping a good 60-70 runs in the lead for second innings, that would be helpful for us," he signed off.
Brief scores: Andhra 231 in 73.2 ovs (Rahul 89; Ajay 3/56, Jadeja 2/66, Jayant 4/75) vs Chhattisgarh 35/1 in 14 ovs.
