Spinners called the shots in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group A clash between Andhra Pradesh and Punjab, which saw as many as 24 wickets fall on the first day. Siddharth Kaul was the only fast bowler to do considerable damage and took five wickets including a hat-trick in the first innings. Spinners Vinay Choudhary and Krishan Alang shared five wickets as Andhra were shot out for 97 after winning the toss in Patiala. The innings lasted 39.4 overs.
Punjab hardly fared any better and folded for 108 in 35.2 overs, with the spin combine of Shoaib Mohammed Khan (5/46) and S Ashish (5/50) doing all the damage. There was time for more wickets as Choudhary and Mayank Markande left Andhra at 31/4 by stumps.
Such was the domination of bowlers that no batsman went past 25, with Punjab skipper Mandeep Singh’s 26-ball 23 being the best effort of the day. Punjab made intentions clear by giving the new ball to left-arm orthodox Choudhary in the first innings. However, Kaul struck first by castling opener DB Prasanth for a seven-ball duck, in the fourth over. Choudhary took out his partner CR Gnaneshwar in the next, leaving the visitors stuttering at 0/2.
Kaul and Choudhary dented Andhra further a few overs later, taking out M Pranith (5 off 23) and skipper Ricky Bhui (11 off 23) to reduce them to 16/4 in the 12th over. Bodapati Sumanth (22 off 51) and K Karan Shinde (16 off 31) seemed to revive the innings with their 36-run stand, but the floodgates opened after they’d played out 10 overs without incident. Off-spinner Alang — making his debut — got rid of both and Andhra spiralled to 61/7 by the 28th over. Kaul came back to mop up the tail, hitting the stumps thrice for a hat-trick and his 15th first-class fifer.
Punjab started in a jittery manner, losing opener Sanvir Singh (0 off 8) to off-spinner Shoaib in the second over. Barring a 30-run, third-wicket stand between Mandeep and Gurkeerat Singh Mann (17 off 28), most of the other batsmen couldn’t muster a fight against Shoaib and his left-arm spin partner Ashish (also making his first-class debut).
Both tweakers completed their first five-fors in the format, with Punjab just edging past them to take the first-innings lead courtesy stumper Anmol Malhotra’s 64-ball 21.The glut of wickets didn’t end there, with Punjab sending back Prasanth off the first ball of their second innings. Choudhary claimed Gnaneshwar (5 off 6) and Pranith (13 off 21). Leg-spinner Mayank Markande opened his account off the last ball of the day by getting Sumanth for one.Andhra lead combined Elite Groups A and B, with 27 points from their previous six games. Punjab are seventh, with 18 points from six.
Brief scores (Day 1)
Group A
In Patiala: Andhra 97 (Kaul 5/24, Vinay 3/28, Alang 2/31) & 37/4 (Vinay 3/11) vs Punjab 108 (Shoaib 5/46, Ashish 5/50).
In Nagpur: Vidarbha 239/6 (Satish 58, Jaffer 57; Nidheesh 3/53, Basil 2/39) vs Kerala.
Group B
In Vadodara: Baroda 174 (Sheth 53; Mohammed 7/68, Tanwar 2/37) vs TN 135/0 (Abhinav 73 n.o, Suryapprakash 61 n.o).
In Shivamogga: Karnataka 233/3 (Samarth 105 n.o, Siddharth 62 n.o) vs MP.
Group C
In Pune: Odisha 220/5 (Shantanu 84 n.o, Dhuper 67 n.o; Palkar 2/46) vs Maharashtra.
Plate
In Kolkata: Pondicherry 363/8 (Ahmed 154 n.o, Dogra 56; Bishworjit 2/84, Thomas 2/63, Rex 2/59) vs Manipur.