Shinde ton boosts Andhra total

Visakhapatnam: Andhra were able to restrict defending champions Madhya Pradesh to 144 for four on the second day of their Ranji trophy quarterfinal at the Holkar stadium in Indore on Wednesday. Madhya Pradesh were still 235 runs behind Andhra’s first innings total of 379. Andhra resumed with Ricky Bhui and Karan Shinde at 262 for two. The latter completed a well-deserved century (110, 264b, 4x12, 6x2). Incidentally, Shinde had scored century a on debut against MP at the same venue 5-1/2 years ago. It was the 25-year-old’s third first-class ton in 21 matches. Bhui scored 149 (250b, 4x18, 6x1) and the two added 250 runs for the third wicket. Once they fell in quick succession, Andhra lost five wickets for 25 runs, including a debatable caught behind decision against Nitish Kumar Reddy. However, captain GH Vihari, who left the field with a hairline fracture in his left wrist on the first day, came back to bat grittily. He played left-handed to avoid exposure to his injured left wrist and added nine runs to his 18 and with A Lalith Mohan (22 not out) 26 runs for the last wicket. His 25 included one-handed boundaries off Avesh Khan and spinner Saransh Jain.Andhra thought they had Shubham Sharma early, but the caught behind decision off Lalith went against them. Sharma went on to make 51.