Opener L N Prasad Reddy's responsible unbeaten knock of 82 guided Andhra Pradesh to 215 for 9 on the opening day of their four-day Ranji Trophy Elite Division match against Saurashtra in Rajkot on Saturday.

Andhra skipper Venugopal Rao won the toss and decided to bat, but early moisture and disastrous running between the wickets reduced the visitors to 77 for five at lunch.

M S K Prasad (16), Ganeshwar Rao (5) and A G Pradeep (14) were run out, while skipper Rao managed only four.

But Reddy batted with great maturity, adding 53 runs with R Prasad 35 for the sixth wicket to take his team to safety.

Reddy completed his fifty with six fours off 160 balls. At close he remained unbeaten on 82 from 281 deliveries and included 11 boundaries. B Sumanth and Shahabuddin contributed 21 each.

For Saurashtra, Sandip Maniar grabbed three wickets for 50 runs, while Rakesh Dhruv took two.

Brief score: Andhra Pradesh 215 for 9 (L N Prasad Reddy 82 not out, R Prasad 35; Sandip Maniar 3-50).