Andhra suffered their second consecutive loss and third out of four matches as Ankur Panwar bowled Saurashtra to a 74-run win in their Vijay Hazare Trophy match in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
Chasing 255 for victory, Andhra got off to a poor start with opener KS Bharat (4) falling to Chirag Jani with only four on the board. Fellow opener CR Gnaneshwar and M Hemanth Reddy steadied the innings with a 48-run partnership for the second wicket with Gnaneshwar doing the bulk of the scoring. But it was too good to last as Gnaneshwar was run out by Kanbi after scoring 33 off 28 balls with six fours.
Thereafter, Andhra never really recovered enough to mount a challenge. Much was expected from seasoned Ricky Bhui (4) but the batter became medium-pacer Panwar’s first victim.
Three runs later Panwar had Hemanth Reddy caught by Aditya Jadeja after the batter had scored 29 off 50 balls with four boundaries. Newman Yara Sandeep (0) faced only one ball and didn’t trouble the scorers as he was caught behind by Harvik Desai and Panwar was on a hat-trick. However, SDNV Prasad (10) saw off the threat but not for long. Panwar had him leg before to have Andhra reeling at six for 85.
Andhra skipper Nitish Kumar Reddy and Kalidindi Raju fought gamely but their efforts were not enough. They added 42 for the seventh wicket before Nitish was bowled by Hiten Kanbi to end his 40-ball innings which yielded 30 runs with four hits to the fence.
Andhra lost Saurabh Kumar (0) for the addition of one run. Raju and Jagarlapudi Ram then added 26 before Raju fell to Panwar, his fifth wicket of the innings. Raju scored 30 off 45 balls with three fours. Ram remained unbeaten on 20 as Andhra were bowled out for 180 in 47.2 overs.
Panwar took five for 27 in his 10 overs.
Saurashtra manage to reach 254
Earlier, asked to bat first, Saurashtra too had a poor start as they lost three wickets with just 36 on the board. All the three wickets were claimed by PVSN Raju.
But skipper Harvik Desai and Chirag Jani took the score past the 100-run mark. Desai fell with the total reading 111. His 61 came off 81 balls with seven fours.
Jani then combined forces with Ruchit Ahir to keep the Andhra bowlers at bay. They added 87 for the sixth wicket before Jani fell to Nitish Kumar after making 69, which came of 96 balls and contained four fours and a six.
Ahir and Parth Bhut then took the score to 243 before Ahir fell to KSN Raju after making a 54-ball 76 with the help of seven fours and two sixes. Saurashtra were restricted to 254 for seven in 50 overs.
SCOREBOARD
Saurashtra: Harvik Desai c Sandeep b KSN Raju 61, Vishvaraj Jadeja b PVSN Raju 3, Hetvik Kotak c Bhui b PVSN Raju 7, Sammar Gajjar c Bharat b PVSN Raju 0, Prerak Mankad b Saketh Ram 13, Chirag Jani c Prasad b Nitish 69, Ruchit Ahir c PVSN Raju b KSN Raju 76, Parth Bhut (not out) 14, Ankur Panwar (not out) 7; Extras: (LB1, W3) 4. Total: (For 7 wickets in 50 overs) 254.
Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-30, 3-36, 4-62, 5-111, 6-198, 7-243.
Bowling: Nitish Kumar Reddy 10-0-59-1, PVSN Raju 10-1-45-3, KSN Raju 10-1-64-2, Jagarlapudi Ram 5-0-30-1, Saurabh Kumar 10-1-32-0, M Hemanth Reddy 5-0-23-0.
Andhra: CR Gnaneshwar (run out) 33, KS Bharat b Jani 4, M Hemanth Reddy c Jadeja b Panwar 29, Ricky Bhui c Mankad b Panwar 4, Nitish Kumar Reddy b Kanbi 30, Yara Sandeep c Desai b Panwar 0, SDN Prasad lbw Panwar 10, Kalindi Raju c Jani b Panwar 30, Saurabh Kumar c Desai b Bhut 0, Jagarlapudi Ram (not out) 20, Satyanarayana Raju c Mankad b Gajjar 14; Extras: (W6) 6. Total: (All out in 47.2 overs) 180.
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-52, 3-70, 4-73, 5-73, 6-85, 7-127, 8-128, 9-154.
Bowling: Aditya Jadeja 6-1-33-0, Chirag Jani 6-0-26-1, Hiten Kanbi 6-0-43-1, Ankur Panwar 10-2-27-5, Prerak Mankad 7-0-27-0, Parth Bhut 9-0-20-1, Sammar Gajjar 3.2-0-4-1.
