RANJI TROPHY | Vidarbha gets its nose in front after a frenetic second day’s play

Vidarbha tightened its grip on the Ranji Trophy Group ‘A’ fixture towards Andhra after a frenetic second day right here at Anantapur Cricket Floor, the place wickets fell repeatedly to go away the host below stress.

Although Abhishek Reddy continued his good kind with a fluent 73, Andhra was bundled out for 228 after the customer misplaced its remaining three wickets to complete on 295.

For the host, Saurabh Kumar performed a combating knock of 62, whereas Nitish Kumar Reddy seemed good in his brief stint of 35 off 48 balls.

Vidarbha safely performed out the remaining two overs of the day to take an total lead of 71.

The customer started the day with in a single day batters, centurion Yash Rathod and Nachiket Bhute, getting dismissed inside 20 minutes.

Non-existent drive

Rathod went looking for a non-existent drive and was caught behind off Okay. Saiteja, who additionally claimed the ultimate wicket of Parth Rekhade equally. In between, Bhute skied a supply to reward Okay. Raju his fifth wicket.

In reply, Andhra started with Abhishek and Okay.S. Bharat discovering boundaries sq. of the wicket off the backfoot. Bharat, nevertheless, didn’t final lengthy and edged to first slip off Darshan Nalkande.

Then, Shaik Rasheed and Ricky Bhui fell with out scoring. Whereas Rasheed was cleaned up by Bhute, Thakare had Bhui caught behind.

Abhishek displayed some crisp backfoot punches to gather boundaries earlier than Thakare returned to have him caught at gully, ending the opener’s 91-ball keep. Karan Shinde then chopped on towards Dubey.

Andhra’s Okay. Nitish Kumar Reddy in motion.
| Photograph Credit score:
File picture: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

Nitish hit consecutive fours off spinner Rekhade after which Nalkande. The pacer, nevertheless, had the final snigger as Nitish smashed straight to cowl.

Saurabh, although, continued to knock round however couldn’t carry Andhra’s innings to the following day as Rekhade cleaned him up 10 minutes earlier than stumps.

The scores: Vidarbha — 1st innings: Atharva Taide c Bharat b Raju 13, Aman Mokhade b Raju 21, Danish Malewar c Nitish b Raju 0, R. Samarth c Bharat b Raju 9, Yash Rathod c Bharat b Saiteja 115, Rohit Binkar c Bharat b Saiteja 37, Harsh Dubey lbw b Nitish 9, Darshan Nalkande c & b Saurabh 36, Nachiket Bhute c Rasheed b Raju 31, Prerak Rekhade c Bharat b Saiteja 4, Aditya Thakare (not out) 2; Extras (b-4, lb-7, nb-1, w-6): 18; Whole (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.

Andhra bowling: Nitish 14-3-51-1, Sasikanth 14-2-50-0, Raju 20-6-62-5, Saiteja 16.3-2-46-3, Vijay 15-1-47-0, Saurabh 10-1-28-1.

Andhra — 1st innings: Abhishek Reddy c Mokhade b Thakare 73, Okay.S. Bharat c Samarth b Nalkande 9, Shaik Rasheed b Bhute 0, Ricky Bhui c Binkar b Thakare 0, Karan Shinde b Harsh Dubey 20, Nitish Kumar Reddy c Samarth b Nalkande 35, Okay.V. Sasikanth c Binkar b Bhute 1, Saurabh Kumar b Rekhade 62, Okay. Raju run out 5, Tripurna Vijay lbw b Rekhade 17, Okay. Saiteja (not out) 4; Extras (b-1, lb-1): 2; Whole (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.

Vidarbha bowling: Nalkande 14-0-71-2, Thakare 12-2-33-2, Bhute 15-1-71-2, Dubey 16-4-26-1, Rekhade 8.3-1-25-2.

Vidarbha — 2nd innings: Aditya Thakare (batting) 4, Atharva Taide (batting) 0; Whole (for no loss in two overs): 4.

Andhra bowling: Saurabh 1-0-4-0, Raju 1-1-0-0.

Printed – January 23, 2026 06:15 pm IST