MP march into SFs with 5-wkt victory

Visakhapatnam: Andhra went down to holders Madhya Pradesh by five wickets in the quarterfinals of the Ranji trophy championship at the Holkar stadium, Indore on Friday.Resuming the fourth day at 58 for no loss, Madhya Pradesh reached the target of 245, half-an hour after the tea break. Andhra gained a 151-run lead in the first innings and lost the advantage after being skittled out for 93 in their second knock. However, they made MP to fight to reach the moderate target. They lost the overnight batter Himanshu Mantri to the second ball of the day to K Nitish Kumar Reddy’s bowling but Yash Dubey and Shubham Sharma added 62 runs for the second and Sharma shared 38 runs for the third with Rajat Patidar. Patidar went on to add 49 for the fourth with Saransh Jain. The unbroken sixth-wicket pair of Jain and Harsh Gawali (18) took MP past the target. Prithvi Raj Yarra and A. Lalith Mohan claimed two wickets each and K. Nitish Kumar Reddy one for Andhra.