Andhra came here with just two points from as many games now has 14 points and is just one behind the leader Haryana in Group C of the Ranji Trophy.
This is after it defeated Haryana by 77 runs at the Wankhade Stadium here on Sunday.
A fourth innings target of 371 was always going to be difficult, but Haryana was in the match as long as its 8-year-old opener Shubham Rohilla was at the wicket. He came out to bat this morning at 75 not out with Haryana on 138 for three.
Though he lost his partner - night-watchman Yuzvendra Chahal - in the fourth over of the day to medium-pacer D. Siva Kumar, he found an ideal one in Chaitanya Bishnoi. Slowly, they began to frustrate Andhra, which might even have begun wonder if its decision not to enforce the follow-on the second day was indeed the right one.
Rohilla completed his maiden First-Class hundred by slicing left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt to third man in the last over before lunch. Haryana was 206 for four at lunch, and it seemed to have a chance if its batsmen could hang on till the final hour.
Crucial breakthrough
However, the team got a big setback when the opener fell lbw for 118 (413min, 274b, 10x4) to Siva Kumar, who would win the Man-of-the-Match award for taking nine wickets in the game and making 42 crucial runs in Andhra’s second innings.
It was a splendid innings from Rohilla, but with his dismissal, Haryana’s chances of a famous victory were over.
Chaitanya Bishnoi, who added 92 for the fifth wicket with Rohilla, waged his own grim battle, but there was none to support him. He was stranded on 69 not out (322min, 238b, 6x4).
This was Haryana’s first defeat of the season, while Andhra registered its second win within a week in Mumbai; it had beaten Jammu & Kashmir at the nearby Brabourne Stadium.
Andhra’s next match is against Services at Indore, while Haryana will face Kerala at Jaipur. Both the games start on November 5.
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