Andhra inch closer to win

Andhra Cricket Association took a huge step towards clinching the title after their batsmen produced an authoritative performance against Gujarat Cricket Association on the penultimate day of the final of the Dr (Capt) K Thimmappiah Memorial Cricket tournament here at the Chinnaswamy stadium on Thursday.

Resuming from 121/2, trailing Gujarat by 244 runs, Andhra cruised to 376 for four at stumps on the back of a clinical batting effort led by the duo of Ricky Bhui and Jyothi Sai Krishna. The pair added 171 runs for the third wicket to place Andhra in the driver’s seat. Bhui slammed 109 (267b, 10x4, 3x6) while Krishna (91, 222b, 12x4) was unlucky to miss out on a well deserved ton by nine runs.

Veteran batsman Venugopal Rao was unbeaten on 54 (98b, 7x4, 1x6) in the company of Sumanth (22 n.o., 4x4). With a slender lead of 11 runs and six wickets under their belt, Andhra look firm favourites to emerge champions. Gujarat, who are staring down the barrel, face an improbable task of staging a fightback.

Earlier, the first two sessions belonged to Krishna and Bhui, who motored along nicely, leaving Gujarat bowlers short of ideas. Krishna looked like reaching his hundred first but played a delivery across the line to get out leg before wicket to medium pacer Mehul Patel, at the fag end of the second session.

Bhui reached the three-figure mark early in the final session but his patient knock met a soft end when he hit a short and wide ball, from left-arm spinner Aashav Panchal, straight to covers. Rao however kept the momentum going for Andhra with calculative risks.

Reluctant to play

As Andhra gained the lead in the post-tea session, an outright victory for both the teams looked far away. Andhra clearly appeared to have sealed the game based on the first innings lead and both teams approached the umpires to end the match as a draw, even before the final day’s play. Following a 20-minute delay, when the players interacted with the on-field umpires, play resumed with the KSCA officials denied any such possibility.

Brief scores: Gujarat Cricket Association: 365 all out in 111 overs vs Andhra Cricket Association: 376/4 in 134 overs (KS Bharat 54, DB Prasanth Kumar 27, Jyoti Sai Krishna 91, Ricky Bhui 109, Venugopal Rao 54 n.o.)