Dinesh Mongia lifts Punjab

A solid, unbeaten 52 by skipper Dinesh Mongia helped Punjab reach 190 for 4 on the opening day of the Elite Group 'B' Ranji Trophy match against Andhra, at the ACA-VDCA stadium in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday.

Opting to bat after winning the toss, Punjab, looking for an outright win to make it to the semi-finals, began well, with openers Ravneet Ricky (29) and Uday Kaul (32) adding 59. But the visitors got bogged down as they struggled to adapt to the slow surface. The Andhra bowlers used the home advantage well, bowling a tight line.

The fourth-wicket pair of Mongia and Pankaj Dharmani (46) looked set to put Punjab in command but the stumper got out on the last ball of the day, padding up to off-spinner Mohd. Faiq, who was the most successful Andhra bowler with two wickets for 44 runs.

Mongia hit seven delectable boundaries in his 114-ball essay.

Dharmani ensured that quick wickets were not lost, batting resolutely for 169 balls, hitting three fours.

Punjab coach Intikab Alam said, ''We decided to save wickets even if we had to score slowly on this wicket. We want to make around 400 tomorrow. It is better to keep wickets and fight on the second day than go for quick runs and get out.''

Scorecard

Punjab (1st innings):
R S Ricky b Lakshman Kishore 29
U Kaul c Rayudu b Faiq 32
P Dharmani lbw Faiq 46
R S Sodhi c Venugopal Rao b Vikram Verma 19
D Mongia not out 52.
Extras: (b 5, w 1, nb 6) 12
Total: (4 wickets, 90 overs) 190

To bat: G Gupta, Bipul Sharma, I Malhatra, Gagandeep Singh, Rajesh Sharma, L Ablash.

Fall of wickets: 1-59, 2-65, 3-99, 4-190.

Bowling: Sahabuddin 16-3-44-0 (3nb), Kalyankrishna 10-3-22-0 (1w), Vikram Verma 10-2-24-1, Lakshman Kishore 24-11-30-1, Gnaneswara Rao 3-2-2-0, Faiq 22 7 44 2 (1nb), Venugopal Rao 5-1-19-0.

Andhra: Y Venugopal Rao, K Sahabuddin, MSK Prasad, T Suman, K Kumarswamy, A Rayudu, Gnaneswara Rao, Vikram Verma, D Kalyankrishna, L Kishore, M Faiq.