A stubborn 82 by Jasvir Singh and his unbeaten 93-run partnership for the fifth wicket with skipper Sarabjit Singh (23) helped Services crawl to 203 for 4 against Andhra on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy match at Palam ground in Delhi [Images] on Saturday.

Sarabjit Singh won the toss and opted to bat, but after a decent opening stand that fetched the team 55 runs, the hosts lost their way and in the process three wickets in a space of 19 runs to be 74 for 3.

- Ranji Trophy 2005-06: Complete coverage

Openers Narender Singh annd M P Reddy faced the Andhra bowling confidently and batted for 23 overs before Mohd Faiq removed Narender Singh, whose contribution was 27 (3x4, 106minutes).

Services suffered another blow when they lost new batsman S S Tomar for just 10 runs at the team score of 72. Andhra skipper Venugopal Rao trapped Tomar leg before.

Two runs later Faiq again struck, this time he removed other opener Reddy, who was looking all set. The batsman contributed 33 (5x4,150 minutes). Yashpal and Jasvir Singh put up 36 runs for fourth wicket before Kishore got rid of Yashpal 22(3x4,44).

However that turned to be the last success for the Andhra bowlers as Jasvir Singh found an able and determined ally in Sarabjit Singh and both of saw through 44.2 overs without getting separated.

Venugopal Rao made repeated changes in the bowling and used as many as eight bowlers but failed to get the breakthrough.

Jasvir Singh became the second Services batsmen to score a fifty or more in this season so far for his side.

At stumps Jasvir Singh was on 82 (11x4, 179minutes) and Sarbjit Singh on 23 (127 minutes).

Scorecard:

Services (1st innings):
Narender Singh c & b Faiq 27
MP Reddy c Rayudu b Faiq 33
SS Tomar lbw b Venugopal Rao 10
Yashpal Singh c Faiq b Lakshman Kishore 22
Jasvir Singh not out 82
Sarabjit Singh not out 23
Extras: (b 2, w 2, nb 2) 6
Total: (4 wickets, 91 overs) 203

To bat: AK Mohanty, Amrinder Singh, A Sharma, F Mohammed, Pankaj Kumar.

Fall of wickets: 1-55, 2-72, 3-74, 4-110.

Bowling: Sahabuddin 16-7-28-0 (2w), Kalyankrishna 14-6-27-0, Gnaneswara Rao 8-3-23-0, Faiq 25-6-61-2 (1nb), Venugopal Rao 8-0-26-1, Lakshman Kishore 17-4-28-1 (1nb), Singh 2-1-2-0, Rayudu 1-0-6-0.

Andhra team: Y Venugopal Rao, KS Sahabuddin, MSK Prasad, TS Suman, AT Rayudu, Y Gnaneswara Rao, ASK Varma, M Faiq, BBK Singh, D Kalyankrishna, Lakshman Kishore.