Paceman D Siva Kumar wreaked havoc with a six-wicket haul as Andhra Pradesh bundled out Maharashtra for a measly 91 and then ended the day at 87 for three in their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal match, here today.
Maharashtra chose to bat but the decision backfired as only four of their batsmen could touch the double-digit mark with skipper Rohit Motwani top-scoring for them, managing 23 off 66 balls.
Anupam Sanklecha was the next best with a score of 17 from 28 balls.
It was paceman P Vijaykumar (2/29), who drew the first blood when he had Maharashtra opener Swapnil Gugale caught behind for a duck in the second ball of the match.
Siva removed the other opener Harshad Khadiwale (6) in a similar fashion in the fourth over, bringing Motwani to the crease. Siva had his second victim in dangerous Kedar Jadhav, who was also caught behind after contributing only six runs.
Vijaykumar had his second wicket when he bowled Ankit Bawne (2). Left-arm paceman C Stephen joined the party by accounting for skipper Motwani and Andhra could never recover from those jolts.
Siva then polished off the remaining batting line-up, helping Andhra take control of the game.
In their reply, Andhra ended the day one at 87 for three, with opener Prashanth Kumar (26) and AG Pradeep (13) to resume their innings tomorrow.
Andhra lost opener Srikar Bharath (11), who was trapped by Samad Fallah. 32-year-old Paceman Anupam Sanklecha took the other two wickets -- Murumulla Sriram (31) and rival skipper Mohammed Kaif, who could not even open his account.
Brief Scores:
Maharashtra 1st innings: 91 all out in 41.5 overs (Rohit Motwani 23, Anupam Sanklecha 17; D Siva Kumar 6/41)
Andhra Pradesh 1st innings: 87 for 3 in 41 overs.(Murumulla Sriram 31, Prashanth Kumar 26 batting; Anupam Sanklecha 2/31).
