Hemanth and Abhinav come to Andhra’s rescue with unbroken 118-run partnership

Andhra captain M Hemanth Reddy was the knight in shining armour as he and M Abhinav prevented an absolute disaster as they strung a 118-run partnership for the unbroken fourth wicket against Madhya Pradesh in their Col CK Nayudu Trophy in Indore on Saturday.
At close of play, Andhra were battling it out with 165 for three in 42 overs. They still trail by 220 runs but with two set batters, they can fancy their chances for the first innings lead.
Replying to Madhya Pradesh’s 385, Andhra began on a disastrous note with KSS Jayanth falling with just one on the board. Jayanth was caught by Sohan Patwardhan off Ishan Chaudhary with nothing against his name.
GSP Teja too joined the dump heap as he was bowled by Ishan Chaudhary after making six. To make matters worse for Andhra, they lost their third wicket with 47 on the board. S Venkata Rahul fell to Pushkar Vishwakarma for six.
But Hemanth found in Abhinav a good partner and the duo set to revive the Andhra innings. They mixed caution with aggression to keep the scoreboard ticking while ensuring that no wicket fell.
They have till now added 118 runs off 178 balls for the fourth wicket. Hemanth has contributed 56 off 83 balls and Abhinav has made 53 off 95 balls.
But still lot remains on the morrow, and the skipper will have to continue to bat with the same focus and dedication and the others have to rally around him.
Hemanth was batting on 85 off 124 balls with 14 fours and Abhinav was on 53 off 95 balls with 10 boundaries.

Brief scores: Madhya Pradesh 385 in 125.2 overs (Chanchal Rathore 43, Shubham Kushwah 49, Yashbardhan Singh Chauhan 152, Akhil Nigote Yadav 94; G Sumith 4/92, P Aditya Reddy 3/59) vs Andhra 165 for three in 42 overs (M Hemanth Reddy 85 batting, M Abhinav 53 batting; Ishan Chaudhary 2/42).