Defending champions Madhya Pradesh regained control in the quarterfinals of the Ranji Trophy against Andhra on Thursday, despite injured visiting captain Hanuma Vihari batting one-handed for the second consecutive time.
MP was set a target of 245 runs to win and ended the third day at 58 runs for no loss. They dismissed their opponents for 93 runs in their second innings, with Avesh Khan taking four wickets. Vihari, who had a wrist injury, batted left-handed to score 15 runs coming in at number 11. He hit three fours, including a reverse sweep, but the team could not do much and collapsed to 93 all out in 32.3 overs.
Resuming from the overnight score of 144 for 4, MP was bowled out for 228 runs with Prithvi Raj Yarra taking five wickets. Prithvi added the wickets of Harsh Gawli, Saransh Jain, Avesh Khan, and Kumar Kartikeya to finish with 5 for 26 figures.
Despite a lead of 151 runs, Andhra's batting unit was unable to perform well in the second innings, as the MP bowlers dismissed them for 93 runs in just 32.3 overs. Avesh removed the opener and fellow opening batter, with Gaurav Yadav and Kumar Kartikeya getting key wickets. MP was 58 runs for no loss in 16 overs, with Yash Dubey and Himanshu Mantri getting off to a solid start. They require 187 more runs to advance to the semifinals.
Other Games
Captain Mandeep Singh scored a patient 91 runs, helping Punjab to a crucial first-innings lead of 128 runs in their quarterfinal match against Saurashtra. All-rounder Shreyas Gopal made a career-best score of 161 not out, giving Karnataka a massive first-innings lead of 490 runs in their quarterfinal match against Uttarakhand.
Bengal is on track to reach the semifinals of the Ranji Trophy for the third consecutive time after Shahbaz Ahmed produced an impressive all-around performance on the third day of their quarterfinal match against Jharkhand.
