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SportsCricket

Kavuri Saiteja strikes three times in an over as Punjab slip to 84 for 5 at lunch against Andhra

Sent in at Mohali on the first morning of Ranji Trophy round four, Punjab lost five wickets in the session, three of them to one burst from the Andhra seamer.

From the editorial desk · MohaliPublished
IS Bindra PCA Stadium, Mohali, under lights (file photo)
IS Bindra PCA Stadium, Mohali, under lights (file photo)Photo: The original uploader was The strokes at English Wikipedia. / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Key points

  1. Punjab went to lunch at 84 for 5 after 29 overs against Andhra.
  2. Kavuri Saiteja took three wickets in one over, removing Jashanpreet Singh Sidhu, Uday Saharan and Ramandeep Singh.
  3. Kalidindi Raju had 2 for 20 from nine overs, including opener Prabhsimran Singh.

Punjab lost five wickets before lunch on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy match against Andhra at Mohali on Monday, and went in at 84 for 5 after 29 overs. Most of the damage came in a single over from seamer Kavuri Saiteja.

Andhra won the toss and chose to bowl at the IS Bindra Stadium, and Punjab began briskly. Opener Prabhsimran Singh made 24 off 19 balls, attacking from the start, before Kalidindi Raju removed him in the eighth over.

The over that turned the morning was the 16th. Saiteja had Jashanpreet Singh Sidhu out for 1 off 23 balls with the third delivery, then removed Uday Saharan and Ramandeep Singh with the fifth and sixth, Ramandeep going first ball. A steady start had become a scramble.

Vihaan Malhotra tried to rebuild and hit 30 off 64 balls, but Raju trapped him lbw at the start of the 23rd over. That gave him 2 for 20 from nine overs, two of them maidens. KV Sasikanth, without a wicket, conceded only 22 from eight overs, keeping the pressure on from the other end.

Salil Arora, unbeaten on 21 off 40 balls, struck a boundary off Raju in the last over before the break and will resume with Sanvir Singh, who has 5. The pair had added 13 for the sixth wicket.

For Andhra, who chose to bowl first, it was the morning they wanted. Punjab will need a long partnership after lunch to get to a competitive total. The four-day match runs until Thursday.