Andhra cruised to a six-wicket victory over Railways in the Vijay Hazare Trophy match at Alur Cricket Stadium in Bengaluru on Friday. It was a solid all-round performance by the Nithish Kumar Reddy-led side, who had lost to the star-studded Delhi side in the opener. Virat Kohli’s century had trumped the effort of Ricky Bhui with the bat.
After the bowlers did their part by restricting Railways to 266 for nine, the batters came to the party. Ricky Bhui, who has been in superb form and had struck a century in the previous game against Delhi, carried on from where he left. He struck a half-century and then Nithish made an unbeaten half-century and strung an unbroken 75-run partnership for the fifth wicket with M Hemanth Reddy which helped the side post an easy victory.
Asked to bat first by Andhra skipper Nithish Reddy, Railways lost opener SA Ahuja (7) quite early. PVSN Raju had him caught behind by KS Bharat with the score reading 11. Pratham Singh (6) and Upendra Yadav (7) to fell cheaply, both snapped up by KS Raju, and Railways were reduced to 51 for three. Most of those runs were scored by the other opener Ansh Yadav.
Ansh then found an able partner in Ravi Singh. The duo strung a 104-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Ansh contributed 36 before falling and Ravi, who was the aggressive of the duo, made 64 off 58 balls. Just when it was looking like Railways could still get a big score, Hemanth Reddy struck by removing Ansh for 59. He faced 91 balls and hit six fours and a six.
Ravi fell thereafter as he was caught by Bharat off KS Raju for a well-made 76, which came off 70 ball and was studded with 11 fours and two sixes. Railways was reduced to 193 for seven but a 48-run stand between ZA Khan (48; 34 balls, 2×4, 4×6) and RK Choudhary (22 no) took Railways to 266 for nine.
PVSN Raju took three for 41 and KS Raju claimed three for 68. Hemanth bagged two for 34.
Andhra openers began well with KS Bharat being the aggressive of the duo. He struck five fours in his 23-ball 25 before he was trapped leg before by R Sharma. He added 34 with Ashwin Hebbar.
Ashwin (30) and SK Rasheed then added 37 before the former became skipper Karn Sharma’s first victim. Rasheed and Bhui took the score to 139 before Rasheed (40) was trapped leg before by Karn Sharma. The duo had added 68 off 79 balls with Bhui making 41 of those and Rasheed 24.
Ricky was joined by Nithish, and the duo kept the Railways’ attack at bay. They added 57 off 47 with Bhui being the aggressive partner. He scored 35, while Nithish made 22. Ricky became Karn’s third victim but not before he scored a 74-ball 76 with seven fours and three sixes.
Nithish and Hemanth then shut the doors on Railways with an unbroken 75 run partnership for the fifth wicket. Hemanth remained unbeaten on 41 off 35 balls with three fours and three sixes, while Nithish was not out on 55 off 41 balls with three fours and two sixes.
Brief scores: Railways 266/9 in 50 overs (Ansh Yadav 59, Ravi Singh 76, ZA Khan 48, RK Choudhury 22 no; PVSN Raju 3/41, KS Raju 3/68, M Hemanth Reddy 2/34) lost to Andhra 271/4 in 44.4 overs (KS Bharat 25, Ashwin Hebbar 30, SK Rasheed 40, Ricky Bhui 76, K Nithish Reddy 55 no, M Hemanth Reddy 41 no; Karn Sharma 3/46).
