Ranji Trophy: Stephen's five-wicket haul helps Andhra dismiss Rajasthan for 275

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 17: Left-arm pacer C V Stephen's impressive five-wicket haul helped Andhra dismiss Rajasthan for 275 in the first innings on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Elite Group E match here on Thursday.

The 28-year old Stephen, who struck in the very first over by dismissing opener Yash Kothari for 4, ran through the Rajasthan batting line-up to give his side the advantage. Rajasthan batsmen got starts and Rajesh Bishnoi (54) did well to come up with a strokeful half-century (42 balls, 4X4, 3X6).

Skipper Ashok Menaria and Aditya Garhwal contributed 40 and 49 respectively. Menaria and Garhwal added 63 runs for the fourth wicket to help steady the Rajasthan innings before Bishnoi and Anirudh Singh (39) came up with a 76-run stand for the sixth wicket to add to the total.

The departure of Anirudh, caught and bowled by Stephen, led to three wickets falling in the space of six runs. Bishnoi's attacking ways helped Rajasthan take the score past the 250-mark before Tanveer Ul-Haq and Aniket Choudhary added 22 runs for the last wicket as the team folded for 275 in 59.2 overs.

In reply, Andhra suffered an early jolt, losing C R Gnaneshwar for just 1 off pacer Anikey Choudhary. U M S Girinath (36 batting) and Karan Shinde (23) were involved in a 58-run stand for the second wicket. Choudhary struck again by having Shinde caught by Garhwal. Manish Golamaru (2 batting) was the other not-out batsman.

In the other match of the group, Uttarakhand bowled out Services for 176 in 78.4 overs and ended the day at 25 for 1, losing captain Jay Bista for a duck.

Brief Scores:

Services: 176 all out in 78.4 overs (Devender Lochab 76, Rajat Paliwal 30, Deepak Dhapola 4 for 24) vs Uttarakhand: 25 for 1 in 6 overs.

Rajasthan: 275 all out in 59.2 overs (R K Bishnoi 54, Aditya N Garhwal 49, Ashok Menaria 40, A B Chouhan 39, Stephen 5 for 51) vs Andhra: 75 for 2 in 30 overs (U M S Girinath 36 batting).