Everything seemed to be favouring Madhya Pradesh in the first session of its Ranji Trophy quarterfinal opening day against Andhra. It won the toss, opted to bat and rode on a 123-run opening partnership between Yash Dubey (64, 133b, 7x4, 1x6) and Himanshu Mantri (49, 97b, 4x4, 1x6) to be in a comfortable position.
However, things took a dramatic turn post lunch as Andhra pacers KV Sasikanth (4 for 37) and K. Nithish Kumar Reddy (3 for 50) ripped apart the middle-order. From being in the driver’s seat at 123 for no loss, MP was reeling at 165 for seven - losing seven wickets for just 42 runs - before ending the day at 234 for nine.
On a Holkar Stadium surface that initially aided the bowlers, Dubey and Mantri made the most of a couple of reprieves to get off to a steady start. However, Nithish and Sasikanth banked on proper line and length to bring Andhra back into the game.
Opener Mantri missed out on his seventh First-Class half-century by a run as he was caught behind the stumps by young wicketkeeper Revanth Reddy off a moving Sasikanth delivery.
In the passage of play, MP’s batting collapsed. Venkatesh Iyer - the top-scorer for the team - needed to forge a partnership, but he lasted for four deliveries before stepping out of the crease and attempting a big one off Girinath Reddy. However, he was caught at deep point by Nithish.
While a pall of gloom descended on the MP dressing room, Nithish brought more joy to the Andhra camp by dismissing Harsh Gawali and Anubhav Agarwal off two consecutive deliveries.
Breaching the 200-run mark looked difficult before Saransh Jain and Kumar Kartikeya added 51 runs for the eighth wicket. Though Kartikeya was caught behind off a Sasikanth delivery at the fag end, that partnership spared MP the blushes.
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