Ranji Trophy 2023-24 quarterfinals: Andhra inches closer to historic win against Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh’s fortunes spiralled from great to worse in a span of three sessions as Andhra rode on Hanuma Vihari’s unbeaten 43 (109b, 4×4) to inch closer to its first-ever Ranji Trophy semifinals.
In pursuit of 170 at the Holkar Stadium on Sunday, Andhra had a jittery start, losing openers K Revanth Reddy and DB Prashanth Kumar with just 20 runs on the board.
However, Vihari weathered the storm and forged key partnerships with Nithish Reddy and Ricky Bhui to keep the visiting team in the hunt. He wasn’t in a hurry to score runs; rather on a surface that had little help for the bowlers as the day progressed, Vihari decided to hang in there and deal with singles.
Even though Saransh Jain cleaned up Bhui at the fag end, Vihari stuck to his natural game to avoid slip-ups. As Madhya Pradesh made desperate efforts by introducing Anubhav and Kartikeya from both ends, the pace-spin combination could not break Vihari’s momentum. Pairing with the seasoned Karan Shinde, the India international guided the team to 95 for 4 at stumps on the third day, with 75 runs required for a historic win.
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While Vihari took the centrestage in the last couple of sessions, the morning belonged to the Andhra fast bowlers – Nithish (4 for 28) and K.V. Sasikanth (3 for 20). Taking a leaf out of their Madhya Pradesh counterparts, both Nithish and Sasikanth bowled stump to stump, and the strategy paid off as the home side was bundled out for 107.
Sasikanth found an early breakthrough by rattling Yash Dubey’s off-stump before Nithish joined in with a sharp return catch of Harsh Gawali. Venkatesh Iyer failed to capitalise on an early reprieve and was caught behind by Revanth on the second ball of Sasikanth’s second spell. As MP batters lacked intent, left-arm spinner Lalith Mohan tightened the noose with quick buys and claimed his 100th wicket by dismissing Saransh.
BRIEF SCORES
Madhya Pradesh – 1st innings: 234
Andhra – 1st innings: 172
Madhya Pradesh – 2nd innings: Yash Dubey b Sasikanth 9, Himanshu Mantri c Prashanth b Nithish 43, Harsh Gawali c & b Nithish 6, Shubham Sharma c Revanth b Nithish 2, Venkatesh Iyer c Revanth b Sasikanth 17, Sumit Kushwah lbw b Nithish 12, Saransh Jain c Revanth b Lalith Mohan 0, Anubhav Agarwal c Revanth b Lalith Mohan 8, Kumar Kartikeya b Lalith Kumar 0, Avesh Khan (not out) 9, Kulwant Khejroliya c Prashanth b Sasikanth 1 (7b)
Extras: 0
Total: (all out in 40.5 overs) 107
Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-37, 3-39, 4-70, 5-84, 6-89, 7-89, 8-93, 9-104, 10-107
Madhya Pradesh bowling: Girinath 7-1-17-0, Lalith Mohan 8-3-20-3, Sasikant 10.5-5-20-3, Nithish 10-2-28-4, Shoaib 2-0-8-0, Hebbar 3-1-14-0.
Andhra – 2nd innings: K Revanth Reddy c Mantri b Anubhav 9, DB Prashanth Kumar b Kartikeya 6, K Nithish Kumar Reddy c Kushwah b Anubhav 20, Hanuma Vihari (not out) 43, Ricky Bhui b Saransh 9, Karan Shinde (not out) 5
Extras: (lb-3) 3
Total: (for four wickets in 44 overs) 95
Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-20, 3-56, 4-81
Madhya Pradesh bowling: Avesh 9-2-22-0, Anubhav 9-1-22-2, Khejroliya 7-1-12-0, Kartikeya 12-1-29-1, Saransh 7-2-7-1.