Rasheed and Ricky power Andhra to historic 8-wicket win over defending champs Vidarbha

In four previous encounters, Andhra had never beaten Vidarbha in the Ranji Trophy. Vidarbha had recorded a 74-run victory over Andhra in October 2024, and the other three matches ended in a draw.

Hence, when the teams took the field in the sixth round of the Ranji Trophy in Anantapur, no one gave Andhra a chance against defending champions Vidarbha, who have also won the Vijay Hazare Trophy earlier this month.

On a Super Sunday, however, Andhra scripted history by notching up their first win over the defending champions as Shaik Rasheed hammered an unbeaten century and skipper Ricky Bhui scored an equally impressive unbeaten half-century. Andhra made 259 for two on way to an impressive eight-wicket victory.

The win propelled Andhra to the top of Elite Group A with 28 points to their credit. Vidarbha, on the other hand, are pushed to third place behind Jharkhand. Both teams have the same number of points – 25.

For the first two days of the game, things went according to the script as Andhra conceded a 67-run first innings lead and everyone were expecting Andhra to concede further ground to Vidarbha, who were leading Elite Group A with 25 points prior to this game.

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But in a remarkable turnaround, Andhra showed tremendous resilience to bounce back and push their rivals to the wall. The comeback started when India player Nitish Kumar Reddy stunned Vidarbha with a two-wicket burst that rocked the defending champions early on. Nitish claimed two wickets in the space of two balls as Andhra bowlers bounced back admirably.

Right-arm mediumpacer Kavuri Saiteja then took over to leave the Vidarbha batters shaken. Saiteja took four for 28 and left-arm spinner Saurabh Kumar bagged two for 47 as Vidarbha were bowled out for 191.

Rasheed stands tall for Andhra

Still chasing 259 for victory was not going to be an easy task. Andhra found out that they really had a task on hand when they lost opener Abhishek Reddy (11) with 15 on the board.

However, Rasheed and KS Bharat stood their ground and were not willing to let all the good work done by the bowlers go in vain.

Rasheed, in particular, was in superb touch as he took on the Vidarbha bowlers and pushed them to the fence. They closed the penultimate day at 93 for one, still 166 runs adrift for victory.

Andhra skipper Ricky Bhui made an unbeaten 64 and shared an unbroken 145-run partnership for the third wicket with Rasheed

On the final day, Bharat, who played a subdued innings till now, burst forth. He faced 10 balls and scored 16 runs as he went after the bowlers to unsettle them. The ploy, however, did not last long and Bharat was caught by Aditya Thakare off Nachiket Bhute for 43 (89 balls; 5×4). Bharat and Rashed had added 99 invaluable runs for the second wicket which laid the foundation for the victory.

Rasheed was joined by skipper Ricky Bhui and the duo gave no respite to the rival bowlers. They were not afraid to play their strokes and that proved crucial as they pushed on towards the victory mark.

The duo nullified all attempts by the Vidarbha bowlers to come back into the game. They went after the bowling as they did not want to be bogged down for long periods. The duo added 145 off 163 balls for the unbroken third wicket with Rasheed contributing 77 off 71 balls and Bhui making 64 off 92 balls.

At the end, Rasheed stood tall with an unbeaten 132 which came off 144 balls and contained 21 hits to the fence. Bhui was not out on 64 off 92 balls with seven fours and two sixes.

SCOREBOARD

Vidarbha (1st innings): 295

Andhra (1st innings): 228

Vidarbha (2nd innings): 191

Andhra (2nd innings): Abhishek Reddy c Aman Mokhade b Bhute 11, KS Bharat c Aditya Thakare b Bhute 43, Shaik Rasheed (not out) 132, Ricky Bhui (not out) 64; Extras: (W1, B4, LB4) 9. Total: (For 2 wickets in 56.1 overs) 259.

Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-114.

Bowling: Darshan Nalkande 6.4-0-28-0, Nachiket Bhute 16-2-83-2, Aditya Thakare 9-0-35-0, Harsh Dubey 16.1-3-67-0, Parth Rekhade 8.2-0-38-0.