Andhra facing defeat, bowled out for 155

Chennai, Dec 3 (UNI) Tamil Nadu pushed Andhra Pradesh to the brink of defeat with the latter scoring 79 for one in their second innings, following on after being dismissed for a paltry 155 in their first knock chasing Tamil Nadu's massive 474 on the third day of the Elite Group A Ranji trophy league outing here today.

At the M A Chidambaram stadium, a combined effort of TN bowlers led by medium pacer R Jesuraj (3-35) saw Andhra Pradesh crumbling and conceding a first innings lead of 319, 74 minutes after lunch.

The Andhra Pradesh innings caved in mainly due to the cheap dismissals of captain Venugopala Rao who scored a duck edging medium pacer Yo Mahesh (2-36) to the wicket keeper and his brother Gnaneswara Rao being run out for 16.

Andhra Pradesh were reduced to 76 for 5 in 36 overs after former India stumper M S K Prasad, who was holding one end up, fell leg before to left arm medium pacer R Satish (1-10). Prasad was the top scorer with 20 off 116 balls, with just one four.

Following on, Andhra managed to keep the Tamil Nadu bowlers at bay in the second innings until left arm spinner S Vidhyut drew first blood again dismissing opener M S K Prasad for 29. Prasad miscued a pull and was caught at first slip by Tamil Nadu skipper S Badrinath. Prasad hit four fours in his 91-ball innings.

Thereafter the other opener L N Prasad Reddy (29, 103 balls, one four) and A S K Varma (5, nine balls) held on until play was stopped due to bad light, 11 minutes before the scheduled close.

A sixth wicket stand of 42 runs between A G Pradeep (22, two fours) and R VCh Prasad in 11.2 overs was the only bright spot in Andhra's first innings amidst the ruins.

Brief Scores: Tamil Nadu 474, Andhra 155 all out in 55.4 overs (M S K Prasad 20, A G Pradeep 22, R Jesuraj 3-35, S Vidhyut 2-5) and 79 for one in 32 overs (M S K Prasad 29, L N Prasad Reddy-batting 29).

Following is the scoreboard: Tamil Nadu (First innings) 474 for nine declared. Andhra (First innings): L N P Reddy c Varun Kumar b Vidyut 4 M S K Prasad lbw b Sathish 20 A S K Varma lbw b Jesuraj 1 Y Gnaneswara Rao (run out) 16 Y Venugopal Rao c Varun Kumar b Mahesh 0 A G Pradeep b Jesuraj 22 R V C Prasad c Vijay Krishna b Jesuraj 31 K S Sahabuddin c Varun Kumar b Kapoor 5 M Faiq b Mahesh 4 D Kalyankrishna st Varun Kumar b Vidyut 16 V V B Reddy not out 0 Extras (b-6, lb-1, w-11, nb-13, penalty 5) 36 Total 155 all out in 55.4 overs.

Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-27, 3-59, 4-60, 5-76, 6-123, 7-132, 8-137 9-151, 10-155.

Bowling: V Yo Mahesh 14-2-36-2 R Jesuraj 16-7-35-3 A R Kapoor 13-3-41-1 S Vidyut 1.4-0-5-2 R Naresh 7-2-16-0 R Sathish 4-0-10-1 Andhra IInd innings: M S K Prasad c Badrinath b Vidyut 29 L N P Reddy (batting) 29 A S K Varma (batting) 5 Extras (b-2, w-3, nb-11) 16 Total 79 for one in 32 overs.

Fall of wickets: 1-69.

Bowling: V Y Mahesh 5-2-10 0 R Naresh 6-0-22-0 A R Kapoor 9-2-15-0 R Jesuraj 3-0-8-0 S Vidyut 7-1-17-1 S Badrinath 2-1-5-0

UNI