Right-arm seamer Avesh Khan’s outstanding bowling performance against Vidarbha in the Ranji Trophy 2023-24 semi-final provided an upper-hand to his team, Madha Pradesh, on Saturday.
At Day 1 Stumps, Madhya Pradesh were 47/1 in 20 overs with Himanshu Mantri (26) and Harsh Gawli (10) unbeaten on the crease as they still trail by 123 runs.
In reply to Vidarha’s 170, batters Yash Dubey and Himanshu came out to bat. Both batters added 20 runs before the former was dismissed by star India bowler Umesh Yadav after scoring 11 runs.
After Dubey’s wicket, Gawli came out to field. Both the players have built an unbeaten partnership of 27 runs.
Earlier in the day, Vidarbha skipper Akshay Wadkar won the toss and elected to bat first. Openers Atharva Taide and Dhruv Shorey came out to start the proceedings. Both the batters put on a partnership of 30 runs before the latter was sent back to the pavilion after scoring 13 runs.
The next batter to come out to field was Aman Mokhade. He built up a partnership of 36 runs along with Taide before the latter was dismissed after scoring 39 runswhen the team score was 68.
After Taide’s dismissal, former Karnataka player Karun Nair came out to bat who built a partnership of just nine runs with Mokhade before the latter was dismissed after score 13 runs.
Nair was sent back to the pavilion after playing a brilliant knock of 63 runs which was laced by nine boundaries. Four players – Akshay Wakhare, Yash Thakur, Umesh Yadav, and Aditya Thakare were not able to open their account.
The highest wicket-taker for Madhya Pradesh was Avesh, who snapped four wickets in his spell of 15 overs in which he conceded 49 runs.