Battling a fractured left forearm, Andhra captain Hanuma Vihari’s return as the last man stalled Madhya Pradesh’s momentum after it built a quick comeback on Day 2 of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Wednesday.
Vihari’s staggering walk to the crease helped Andhra end its first-innings at 379, a ball after lunch. Furthermore, it silenced Madhya Pradesh, which had reduced Andhra from 262 for two to 353 for nine, with an improved body language and vocal presence from the previous day. The visiting side, sans Vihari then hung Madhya Pradesh on 144 for four at stumps.
Overnight batter Karan Shinde’s century (110, 264b, 12x4, 2x6) alongside Ricky Bhui (149) helped Andhra become the first visitor to cross 300 at the venue this season. Their 251-run stand was broken in the second hour as Madhya Pradesh effected a collapse with seven wickets. Seamer Anubhav Agarwal, empty-handed the other day, scalped four before Avesh Khan cleaned up No. 11 Prithvi Raj Yarra.
Avesh and his teammates quickly glanced at the Andhra dugout to confirm Vihari - advised four-five weeks rest for copping a bouncer from the fiery seamer on the opening day - was not going to come back.
The right-hander did, and with Lalith Mohan for company, improvised to add crucial runs for the last wicket. A left-handed Vihari offered moments worth rapturous applause as he cut Avesh and swept off-spinner Saransh Jain for fours with the vigour of his conventional bottom hand. He added 11 runs from 19 deliveries before Saransh trapped him on 27.
The first-innings lead could be the decisive factor - Vihari’s gambit does not seem mindless, after all.
Madhya Pradesh openers Yash Dubey and Himanshu Mantri failed to convert starts. Rajat Patidar (20) and half-centurion Shubham Sharma were castled by pearlers from Nitish Kumar and KV Sasikanth, respectively. Captain Aditya Shrivastava (20 batting) is now left with an uphill task to reduce the 235-run deficit.
Comments
SHARE