Andhra Pradesh's maiden entry into the Elite Group of the Ranji Trophy began on a disappointing note as they slumped to 235 for 7 against Railways on the first day at the Karnail Singh stadium in Delhi on Friday.
The Andhra batsmen failed to take advantage of winning the toss and batting first on a docile track, gifting away their wickets cheaply in the morning and closing sessions.
If not for a rescue act by the middle order trio of captain M S K Prasad (61), Syed Shahabuddin (37) and R V Ch Prasad (46), Andhra would have been in deeper trouble.
At stumps, G Shankararao was standing tail on 35, with Hemal Watekar at the other end on four.
Andhra had got the better of eastern powerhouse Bengal, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh while holding Railways last season to gain promotion into the Elite group.
Young India players Harvinder Singh made good use of the morning conditions to remove the experience Amit Pathak in the first over of the day.
Fiaz Ahmed was needlessly run-out befor Harvinder struck a second blow to send back the dangerous Y Venugopalarao.
After only 10 overs, the visitors were three down for 21.
India wicketkeeper M S K Prasad then anchored the innings with some tight batting to push the scoreboard to 51 at lunch.
At 84, the introduction of Tejinder Pal Singh earned the crucial breakthrough when the left arm spinner had opening batsman M Suresh caught at fine leg by Amit Pagnis.
Then came some enterprising moments of the day from Shahabuddin, who reinforced his reputation of a bowling all-rounder with some clean hitting.
The contempt with which the right hand bat carted Yere Goud over square leg boundary resembled a belligerent Kapil Dev in his playing days.
At 142 for four, tea must have been sweet for the visiting captain but things turned bitter soon after resumption.
Shreyas Khanolkar got one past the outside edge of Shahabuddin, ending a 62-run fifth wicket partnership.
Prasad himself committed hara-kiri as he made a wild swipe at Kulamani Parida, off the first ball of the off-spinner's third spell.
R V Ch Prasad and Shankararao then added 53 for the seventh wicket. The former was more attacking in his stroke play, the highlight of his innings being a six over the cover region off Test player Sanjay Bangar.
Scoreboard
Andhra Pradesh (1st innings):
A Pathak c Sharma b H Singh 0
M Suresh c Pagnis b T P Singh 21
Fiaz Ahmed run out 1
Y Venugopalarao c Verma b H Singh 11
M S K Prasad b Parida 61
K S Shahabuddin c Sharma b Khanolkar 37
R V Ch Prasad b Bangar 46
G Shankararao batting 35
H Watekar batting 4
Extras: (lb-4, b-6, nb-2, w-7) 19
Total: (for 7 wickets in 90 overs) 235
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-2, 3-21, 4-84, 5-146, 6-165, 7-218.
Bowling: Harvinder Singh 21-7-42-2, Sanjay Bangar 21-4-63-1, J P Yadav 15-5-37-0, Kulamani Parida 20-8-36-1, Shreyas Khanolkar 10-2-30-1, Tejinder Pal Singh 2-0-5-1, Yere Goud 1-0-12-0.
