Rajasthan, Uttarakhand begin Ranji Trophy campaign with victories 

By PTI

TRIVANDRUM: Rajasthan opened their campaign in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group E with an emphatic 158-run win over Andhra on the fourth and final day of the match here on Sunday.

Chasing 368 for victory, Andhra were bowled out 209 in 53.3 overs with Shubham Sharma (4 for 32) and Aniket Choudhary (3 for 50) doing most of the damage. Resuming at 100 for four on the final day, Andhra’s slim hopes of salvaging the match evaporated quickly as Ricky Bhui fell to Choudhary after having added eight runs to his overnight score.

Yara Sandeep, the other not-out batsman, fell on the same score of 120 when Anirudh Singh had him caught by Tanveer Ul-Haq for 43. It was all over for Andhra who slipped to 120 for six. Pinnati Tapaswi (44, 6 fours, 1 six) and Manish Golamaru (29) put on 67 runs for the seventh wicket to delay the inevitable.

The last three wickets including that of Tapaswi fell for just one run as Sharma picked up two more scalps while Ul-Haq finished things off by dismissing C V Stephen (0). In the group’s other match, Uttarakhand, who won the toss and sent their opponents Services into bat, bowled them out for 176 in the first innings before making 248 in their outing.

Batting a second time, Services only managed 204, leaving their opponents with a victory target of 133. Skipper Jay Bista remained unbeaten on 87 to guide Uttarakhand to a comfortable nine-wicket win.

Brief scores: Services 176 and 204 lost to Uttarakhand 248 and 136 for 1 in 28.3 overs (Jay Bista 87 not out, Kunal Chandela 25 not out) by nine wickets. Uttarakhand: 6 points, Services: 0. Rajasthan 275 and 316 beat Andhra 224 and 209 all out in 53.3 overs (Pinnati Tapaswi 44, Yara Sandeep 43, Ricky Bhui 39, Shubham Sharma 4 for 32, Aniket Choudhary 3 for 50) by 158 runs. Rajasthan: 6 points, Andhra : 0.