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Sumanth thwarts MP’s quest for lead

Principal Correspondent

VIJAYAWADA: A fighting unbeaten 51 (208b, 272m, 2x4) by Andhra skipper B. Sumanth helped Andhra prevent Madhya Pradesh gaining points for first innings lead as the Ranji Trophy Plate Group B match ended in a draw at Indira Gandhi Municipal Stadium here on Friday.

Andhra, in reply to Madhya Pradesh’s 308 for five declared, had made 145 for six in 82.2 overs when play was called off after the 10th mandatory over owing to rain.

Shaky start

Andhra started off shakily losing opener L.N. Prasad Reddy in the second over trapped in front by T. Sudhindra. His partner Watekar made his exit chasing a non-existent run only to find the timber shattered by a direct throw by Anand Singh at the non-striker’s end. A.S.K. Varma failed to read a fuller-length ball by Anand Rajan while Y. Venugopala Rao played an extravagant stroke to put his team in peril. He failed to get the elevation while carting left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma and was held at mid-on by Anand Rajan.

With the top order failing miserably, the onus fell on skipper D. Sumanth, who exhibited patience and caution to perfection and gained the upper hand against the rival attack.

He had two important partnerships — with Manoj Sai and Shahabuddin — to foil MP’s game plan.

Hrishikesh Kanitkar pressed into service as many as seven bowlers in search of breakthroughs.

Both the teams get one point each. Andhra will take on Haryana at Anantapur from December 1 to 4 while MP will meet Jammu and Kashmir at Indore.

Both Andhra and Madhya Pradesh got one point each from the drawn encounter.

The scoreboard: Madhya Pradesh — 1st innings: Jalaj Saxena c Manoj Sai b Shahabuddin 32, Naman Ojha c Venugopala Rao b Shahabuddin 21, Hrishikesh Kanitkar b Atchutha Rao 68, Devender Bundela c. Sankar Rao b Atchutha Rao 84, Abbas Ali (not out) 57, Mohnish Mishra (run out) 27, Anand Singh (not out) 6; Extras (b-3, lb-1, nb-8, w-1): 13; Total (for five wkts decl. in 117 overs): 308.

Fall of wickets: 1-45, 2-56, 3-206, 4-227, 5-285.

Andhra bowling: K.S. Shahabuddin 36-11-64-2, D. Kalyan Krishna 17-2-58-0, T. Atchutha Rao 24-4-71-2, G. Sankar Rao 31-8-81-0, G.V.S. Prasad 9-1-30-0.

Andhra — 1st innings: H.H. Watekar (run out) 4, L.N. Prasad Reddy lbw T. Sudhindra 0, A.S.K. Varma b Anand Rajan 8, Y. Venugopala Rao c Anand Rajan b Ankit Sharma 8, B. Sumanth (not out) 51, Manoj Sai lbw Ankit Sharma 26, K.S. Shahabuddin c&b Abbas Ali 23, G. Sankar Rao (not out) 16; Extras (b-1, lb-2, nb-6): 9; Total (for six wkts in 82.2 overs): 145.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-7, 3-15, 4-30, 5-79, 6-126.

Madhya Pradesh bowling: Sanjay Pandey 12-6-20-0, T. Sudhindra 11-6-16-1, Anand Rajan 9-1-21-1, Ankit Sharma 26-13-40-2, Anand Singh 1-0-2-0, Jalaj Saxena 17-7-34-0, Abbas Ali 6.2-2-9-1.

Plate division: Madhya Pradesh 308 for five decl. in 117 overs (H. Kanitkar 68, D. Bundela 84, S. Abbas Ali 57 not out) drew with Andhra 145 for six in 82.2 overs (B. Sumanth 51 not out). Andhra 1, MP 1.

At Guwahati: Jharkhand 261 and 247 in 84.2 overs (Saurabh Tiwary 121, Rajiv Kumar 42, S.P. Gautam 40, Dhiraj Goswami four for 37) drew with Assam 298 and 99 for nine in 46 overs (Parvez Aziz 46). Assam 3, Jharkhand 1.

At Margao: Goa 338 and 212 for nine in 65 overs (S. Asnodkar 47, Robin D’Souza 40 not out, Gajendra Singh four for 46) drew with Rajasthan 225. Goa 3, Rajasthan 1.

At Nagpur: Vidarbha 222 and 217 for six decl. in 66 overs (Alind Naidu 76, Shalabh Shrivastava 49 not out) drew with Tripura 151 and 73 for four in 40 overs. Vidarbha 3, Tripura 1 .

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