L Prasad Reddy and Satya Kumar Varma struck half centuries to help Andhra Pradesh reach 201 for two in their first innings against Uttar Pradesh on the second day of the Ranji Trophy Super League match in Anantapur on Friday.
Reddy was batting on 88 while Varma perished on 61 to give Uttar Pradesh a strong reply after they were all out for 298 in their first innings today.
Resuming at 269/8, Uttar Pradesh added another 29 runs to their first innings total. But Ravikant Shukla was unfortunate as he ran out of partner with just one run short of a century. Shukla tried in vain to reach the three figure mark, hitting four boundaries in the day but missed it by a whisker.
Shukla (99 not out) added 22 more to his overnight score. His scintillating innings included 14 fours and a six. Abid Khan was out for seven, while the last batsman S Tyagi failed to open his account. Both the wickets were claimed by G Shankar Rao.
P Vijay Kumar was the top wicket-taker, grabbing four wickets (4-75) for Andhra.
L Reddy and Varma (61) gave the hosts a good start after the loss of opener Hemal Watekar with 26 on board.
While Reddy scored 10 fours, Varma hit eight boundaries and a six.
MSK Prasad, who made 26 runs, was giving company to Reddy at the crease at the end of the day.
S Tyagi (1-47) and Abid Khan (1-30) got rid of Watekar and Varma respectively.
Scorecard:
Uttar Pradesh 1st innings (overnight 269 for 8)
RP Srivastava c Prasad b Kalyankrishna 7
SS Shukla c Gnaneswara Rao b Vijay Kumar 27
TM Srivastava c Varma b Raju 30
M Kaif c Gnaneswara Rao b Vijay Kumar 34
SK Raina c Watekar b Vijay Kumar 13
Ravikant Shukla not out 99
Amir Khan c Watekar b Raju 22
Piyush Chawla c Vijay Kumar b Kalyankrishna 23
R Mishra c Prasad b Vijay Kumar 7
M Abid Khan lbw b Shankara Rao 7
S Tyagi lbw b Shankara Rao 0
Extras (lb 10, w 8, nb 11) 29
Total (all out; 97.5 overs) 298
Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-47, 3-108, 4-126, 5-126, 6-196, 7-234, 8-248, 9-298, 10-298
Bowling: D Kalyankrishna 26-5-77-2; P Vijay Kumar 29-7-75-4, I Raju 19-3-70-2; Y Gnaneswara Rao 7-1-29-0, G Shankara Rao 8.5-3-10-2
Andhra 1st innings
HH Watekar c Amir Khan b Tyagi 11
LNP Reddy not out 88
ASK Varma c Mishra b Abid Khan 61
MSK Prasad not out 26
Extras (b 4, lb 5, w 2, nb 4) 15
Total (2 wickets; 81 overs) 201
Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-150
Bowling: M Abid Khan 18-7-30-1, S Tyagi 21-5-47-1, R Mishra 14-4-32-0, RP Srivastava 5-2-15-0, Piyush Chawla 18-3-56-0, SS Shukla 5-2-12-0.