Ranji Trophy 2019-20: Vijay Kumar shines as Andhra completes innings win

Tanmay Agarwal and T. Ravi Teja provide resistance with the bat, but Hyderabad falls to its fourth defeat in five games.

P. Vijay Kumar ensured his 11th five-wicket haul in First-Class cricket.

Andhra recorded an innings and 96-run win over Hyderabad in the Ranji Trophy Elite Group match at CSR Sarma College Ground here on Tuesday. This is Hyderabad’s fourth defeat in five games; it has now just six points, gathered via the solitary win over Kerala.

Resuming at the overnight score of 45 for three after conceding a first-innings lead of 264, Hyderabad needed at least a couple of batsmen to stay put at the crease. But that was not to be. Though captain and opener Tanmay Agarwal played a defiant knock (41, 114b, 6x4) and all-rounder T. Ravi Teja scored a belligerent, unbeaten 72 (144b, 8x4, 3x6), the other batsmen failed to rise to the occasion today in the face of accurate, if not hostile, bowling.

Five-wicket haul

Significantly for Andhra, pacers P. Vijay Kumar, who completed a thoroughly deserving five-wicket haul (his first this season), left-armer Prithvi Raj and K. V. Sasikanth shared the spoils on a pitch where Hyderabad’s bowling attack struggled.

Jaweed Ali was the first to be dismissed today when Prithvi Raj forced a snick to the wicketkeeper K. Srikar Bharat in the eighth over of the day. And, in the same over, in-form wicketkeeper-batsman K. Sumanth, who scored a brilliant century against Kerala last week at home, was cleaned up as Hyderabad fell into serious trouble.

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Then, Vijay Kumar struck the big blow, sending back Tanmay to reduce Hyderabad to 85 for six in 37th over.

Delaying the inevitable

The writing was clear on the wall but Ravi Teja showed his tenacity and aggression with the bat to delay what was clearly inevitable.

To the delight of Andhra, the pace duo of Vijay and Sasikanth ensured there were no more twists and turns as they cleaned up the tail without any resistance and left the home team a deserving winner.

This is Andhra’s third win from five matches. It now has 21 points and is placed second behind table-topper Vidarbha (23 points).

• Hyderabad - 1st innings: 225.
• Andhra - 1st innings: 489/8 decl.
• Hyderabad - 2nd innings: Tanmay Agarwal c Shinde b Vijay Kumar 41, P. Akshath Reddy c Prashanth b Vijay Kumar 4, J. Mallikarjun c Bhui b Vijay Kumar 2, Himalay Agarwal c Bharat b Vijay Kumar 0, Jaweed Ali c Bharat b Prithvi 19, K. Sumanth b Prithvi 0, T. Ravi Teja not out 72, C.V. Milind b Vijay Kumar 4, Mehdi Hassan c Gnaneshwar b Prithvi 15, M. Ravi Kiran lbw b Sasikanth 1, Yudhvir Singh lbw b Sasikanth 0, Extras: (b-3, lb-3, nb-3, w-1) 10. Total: (all out in 74.4 overs) 168.
• Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-15, 3-22, 4-61, 5-61, 6-85, 7-93, 8-123, 9-168, 10-168.
• Andhra bowling: Vijay Kumar 16-6-25-5, Ayyappa 10-3-33-0, Prithvi 21-9-59-3, Sasikanth 17.3-9-25-2, Vihari 7-3-11-0, Bhui 0.1-0-1-0, Sai Krishna 1-1-0-0, Karan Shinde 2-0-14-0.
• Result: Andhra won by an innings & 96 runs.
• Player of the match: P. Vijay Kumar.