Andhra edge Madhya Pradesh in a low scoring thriller

Placed in Central Zone and South Zone respectively, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra never got a chance to face each other in List A cricket and have faced only 4 times in first-class and twice in Twenty20s. However, their first meeting in the 50-over format turned out to be a pretty good affair as a part of the Vijay Hazare Trophy at the Chepauk, ended up as a low scoring thriller with Andhra gaining the upper hand by 2 wickets.

Andhra who won the toss, elected to bowl first in overcast conditions on a track which had the overnight dew and was evident with swing it produced and the slow outfield. Andhra’s D Siva Kumar made the most of the conditions by breaking through the Madhya Pradesh’s top with his first spell read 6-3-6-3. Naman Ojha bagged a 14-ball duck with Bhargav Bhatt trapping him in front.

A 42-run stand for the 5th wicket between Saransh Jain and Parth Sahani looked like settling the things down for MP before 3 wickets by Ayyappa Bandaru reduced the opposition to 80/8. Ishwar Pandey hit a couple of sixes in his brief stay while Saransh Jain ensured he stood till the end with an exemplary knock of 56 coming in 92 balls in challenging conditions to take his side’s to 127 before he departed as the last wicket. With MP getting bowled out in 40.1 overs, Andhra had to bat 6 overs before the scheduled lunch interval.

“I think the wicket was tougher during the first innings. When we lost few wickets, we were under pressure because they did have quality bowling. We lost wickets whenever we gained momentum so it became tough for us towards the end.” Said Andhra captain Hanuma Vihari after his side’s close win that he led with an unbeaten 56.

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Vihari had to come out to bat before Lunch after Kona Bharat got out for a duck in the very first over, stood till the very last ball. Andhra were reduced to 25/4 in 11th over with main batters Bharat, Ravi Teja, Bhui and Pradeep back in the hut. Vihari added 42 runs in 12.2 overs with Chaitanya before Ishwar Pandey struck once again. Siva Kumar added wheels to Andhra’s score but MP’s star with the bat, Jain, cleaned up Siva on the very first ball he bowled.

A four and six in consecutive balls by Swaroop took the score to 120 before he was run out trying for a quick single, which was never there. Bhargav Bhatt too fell while they were 2 runs away from the win but Vihari cleverly ensured the scores were equaled and Ayyappa scored the winning boundary.

Though Andhra were slated to play on neutral grounds in all the formats in this season, their limited-overs leg was hosted by Chennai, where many of the Andhra players are familiar with playing in the TNCA league games. Talking about that, Vihari said, “Its always good for those players to come back and play here. It helps the team as well. Many of the players know the conditions and they react according.”

Brief Scores:

Andhra: 131/8 in 37.5 overs (Hanuma Vihari 58*; Ishwar Pandey 3/31, Chandrakant Sakure 2/24)

Madhya Pradesh: 127 all out in 40.1 overs (Saransh Jain 56, Parth Sahani 24; D Siva Kumar 3/17, Ayyappa Bandaru 3/33, Bhargav Bhatt 2/16, D Swaroop Kumar 2/27)