A captain's knock by M S K Prasad helped Andhra wriggle out of a precarious situation and force a draw against Delhi in the Ranji Trophy Elite 'A' cricket league match at the Roshanara Club grounds in Delhi on Friday.

Prasad remained unbeaten on 71 after a 223-minute vigil during which he hit 11 fours to help Andhra, following on 180 runs behind, reach 152 for five at close on the fourth and final day.

L N Prasad Reddy was the other key contributor with 40, which came from 135 balls and spanned 224 minutes.

The result meant hosts Delhi earned two points for a tally of four from two matches. They now take on Railways in a derby where they will be the hosts.

The final day's play was 'eventless', after the drama on the previous two days which saw a photographer of a national daily being manhandled and cops being called in by the club authorities to throw out newspersons.

The club also threw its gates open to the public today, which was not the case on the first three days.

A boycott by the media to protest the behaviour of the club officials meant Andhra seamer Shahabuddin's brilliant counter-attack on the third day went unreported.

Shahabuddin cracked 16 boundaries for his 136-ball 115 as he added 118 runs for the seventh wicket with A S K Verma, who played a sheet anchor role scoring 80 from 219 balls.

The stand helped Andhra recover from 140 for six and post 311 in reply to Delhi's 491 in the first innings.

Sanjay Gill, who grabbed six for 91 in the first innings, took two for 52 in Andhra's unfinished second essay.

Scoreboard

Delhi (1st innings): 491

Andhra (1st innings):
A Pathak b Gill 2
L P Reddy c Dahiya b Lal 6
M Suresh lbw Lal 3
Y G Rao c Manhas b Gill 32
M S K Prasad lbw Negi 1
A S K Varma b Gill 80
R V Ch Prasad c Gill b Negi 33
K Shahabuddin b Gill 115
M Faiq not out 18
A Praveen c Dahiya b Gill 0
D Kalyankrishna b Gill 0

Extras: (b-13, lb-2, nb-6) 21

Total: (all out in 103.3 overs) 311

Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-12, 3-17, 4-18, 5-64, 6-140, 7-258, 8-299, 9-307.

Bowling: Sanjay Gill 29.3-6-91-6, Kunal Lal 27-7-58-2, S S Negi 21-5-63-2, Rajat Bhatia 9-6-15-0, Sarandeep Singh 8-0-37-0, Ajay Jadeja 3-0-6-0, Mithun Manhas 1-0-11-0, Abhishek Bali 5-1-15-0.

Andhra (2nd innings):
A Pathak lbw Gill 4
L N P Reddy b Gill 40
M Faiq b Lal 10
Y G Rao lbw Bhatia 6
M S K Prasad not out 71
M Suresh c Chopra b Lal 0
A S K Varma not out 12

Extras: (lb-3, w-1, nb-5) 9

Total: (for 5 wickets in 67.1 overs) 152

Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-36, 3-59, 4-113, 5-114.

Bowling: Sanjay Gill 20-8-52-2, Kunal Lal 16-3-31-2, Mithun Manhas 1-0-4-0, S S Negi 2-0-7-0, Abhishek Bali 6-1-10-0, Rajat Bhatia 14-5-26-1, Ajay Jadeja 4.1-2-7-0, Akash Chopra 4-1-12-0.