On a day when 13 wickets fell, defending champions and 3-time winners Vidarbha consolidated their position by taking a 67-run first innings lead against Andhra in Anantapur on Friday.
Replying to Vidarbha’s 295, the hosts’ batters, barring Abhishek Reddy, Saurabh Kumar and to an extent Nitish Kumar Reddy, failed to counter the Vidarbha attack and were bowled out for 228.
Andhra made a poor start and lost their three wickets with just 49 on the board. Veteran KS Bharat was the first to go when he was caught by Samarth off Nalkande for nine.
Andhra were in for more trouble as young and talented Shaik Rasheed failed to make an impression either on the rivals or the scorers. Rasheed was cleaned up by Bhute for a duck after facing 13 balls.
Skipper Ricky Bhui did not do anything better as hefell to Aditya Thakare for a duck after facing 11 balls.
Abhishek, Saurabh hit half-centuries
Abhishek Reddy, in the meanwhile, was doing all the scoring even as wickets fell at the other end. He found a partner in Karan Shinde and the duo tried to repair the damage.
The added 45 for the fourth wicket off 84 balls before Abhishek departed. He was caught by Mokhade off Thakare after making a stroke filled 73 which came off 91 balls and contained 12 fours.
The fact that he scored 73 off the 94 runs not only shows the level of dominance he had but also the poor support from the other Andhra batters.
Shinde (20) didn’t last too long and KV Sasikanth (1) too departed without much ado. Andhra were now reduced to 119 for six.
Nitish and Saurabh then stitched a 47-run partnership for the seventh wicket, but it was not enough as Vidarbha bowlers kept pegging away. Nitish fell after scoring 35 and it was left to Saurabh to wage lone battle.
Saurabh was the last wicket to fall at 228 after he made 62 off 87 balls with eight fours.
Vidarbha extend lead to 71
In their second innings, Vidarbha were four for no loss in two overs and extended their lead to 71.
SCOREBOARD
Vidarbha (1st Innings): Atharva Taide c Bharat b Raju 13, Aman Mokhade b Raju 21, Daniesh Malewar c Nitish b Raju 0, Ravikumar Samarth c Bharat b Raju 9, Yash Rathod c Bharat b Saiteja 115, Rohit Binkar c Bharat b Saiteja 37, Harsh Dubey lbw Nitish 9, Darshan Nalkande c & b Saurabh 36, Nichikete Bhute c Rasheed b Raju 31, Parth Rekhade c Bharat b Saiteja 4, Aditya Thakare (not out) 2; Extras: (B4, LB7, NB1, W6) 18. Total: (All out in 89.3 overs) 295.
Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-33,3-38, 4-45, 5-138, 6-156, 7-232, 8-283, 9-285.
Bowling: Nitish Kumar Reddy 14-3-51-1, KV Sashikanth 14-2-50-0, Kalidindi Raju 20-6-62-5, Kavuri Saiteja 16.3-2-46-3, Tripurana Vijay 15-1-47-0, Saurabh Kumar 10-1-28-1.
Andhra (1st Innings): Abhishek Reddy c Mokhade b Thakare 73, KS Bharat c Samarth b Nalkande 9, Shaik Rasheed b Bhute 0, Ricky Bhui c Binkar b Thakare 0, Karan Shinde b Dubey 20, Nitish Kumar Reddy c Samarth b Nalkande 35, KV Sasikanth c Binkar b Bhute 1, Saurabh Kumar b Rekhade 62, Kalidindi Raju run out (Bhute) 5, Tripurana Vijay lbw Rekhade 17, Kavuri Saiteja (not out) 4; Extras: (B1, LB1) 2. Total: (All out in 65.3 overs) 228.
Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-42, 3-49, 4-94, 5-118, 6-119, 7-166, 8-183, 9-223.
Bowling: Darshan Nalkande 14-0-71-2, Aditya Thakare 12-2-33-2, Nachiket Bhute 15-1-71-2, Harsh Dubey 16-4-26-1, Parth Rekhade 8.3-1-25-2.
Vidarbha (2nd Innings): Aditya Thakare (batting) 4, Atharva Taide (batting) 0. Total: (For no loss in 2 overs) 4.
Bowling: Saurabh Kumar 1-0-4-0, Kalidindi Raju 1-1-0-0.
