Sunday will dawn with all the four results possible at the Wankhade Stadium.
It is never an easy task to make 371 in the fourth innings, but teenaged opener Shubham Rohilla has ensured Harayana remained in the hunt in the Ranji Trophy Group C match here on Saturday. He was batting on 75 (137b, 7x4) when the stumps were drawn on the third day. Haryana was 138 for three, needing 243 more runs to pull off what would be a remarkable victory, after being bowled for 103 in the first innings.
Haryana would have been even better placed if Rajat Paliwal wasn’t run out towards the close; he fell to a direct hit from Ashwin Hebbar. He had made 25, but more importantly, had added 67 for the third wicket with Rohilla.
Earlier, Andhra resumed its second innings at 95 for three. It suffered an early setback when it lost its captain Hanuma Vihari fourth over the day of seamer Harshal Patel, for 50 (82b, 8x4). It was his second fifty of the match.
Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, and Andhra was all out for 220, 45 minutes after lunch. Only D. Siva Kumar, who had taken five wickets in the Haryana first innings, could make any significant contribution; he struck 42 off 63 balls, with four fours and two sixes.
A little later, he was in the thick of actions with the ball too, trapping Nitin Saini in front to provide the breakthrough for Andhra, as Haryana began its chase of a daunting target. Rohilla of course made that target a little less daunting with his fine innings.
“This has been the best innings of my career so far,” said the left-hander who had made his highest score of 92 earlier in the season. “I am not thinking of the result tomorrow, I just plan to bat on.”
Andhra coach N. Sanath Kumar admitted the day did not go well for Andhra. “We should have got more runs in the second innings, but our batsmen failed to capitalise after getting starts,” he said. “Then we didn’t bowl tidily in the second innings of Haryana. Now, Monday’s morning session is going to be very crucial.”
It sure is.
The scores: Andhra – 1st Innings: 253.
Haryana – 2nd Innings: 103.
Andhra – 2nd Innings: K.S. Bharat lbw b Hooda 1, D.B. Prasanth Kumar c Saini b Mohit 11, Hanuma Vihari c Chahal b Patel 50, K. Sreekanth c Bishnoi b Mohit 33, D.B. Ravi Teja lbw b Patel 17, A.G. Pradeep c Saini b Pahal 5, Ashwin Hebbar c Saini b Chahal 17, D. Siva Kumar c Paliwal b Chahal 42, Bhargav Bhatt c Saini b Chahal 3, I. Karhik Raman c Bishnoi b Mohit 9, P. Vijay Kumar (not out) 4, Extras (b-12, lb-14, nb-1, w-1) 28; Total (in 70.1 overs) 220.
Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-34, 3-95, 4-104, 5-115, 6-136, 7-169, 8-189, 9-214.
Haryana bowling: Ashish Hooda 14-2-45-1, Harshal Patel 14-4-33-2, Mohit Sharma 12.1-1-37-3, Sanjay Pahal 9-1-16-1, Yuzvendra Chahal 15-2-51-3, Chaitanya Bishnoi 6-2-12-0.
Haryana – 2nd Innings: Nitin Saini lbw b Siva 6, Shubham Rohilla (batting) 75, Himanshu Rana c Bharat b Bhatt 9, Rajat Paliwal run out (Ashwin) 25, Yuzvendra Chahal (batting) 12, Extras (b-8, lb-1, nb-2, w-0) 11; Total (for three wkt.s in 47 overs) 138.
Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-48, 3-115.
Andhra bowling: D. Siva Kumar 13-5-34-1, Bhargav Bhatt 16-1-45-1, P. Vijay Kumar 10-2-20-0, I. Karhthik Raman 6-1-26-0, D.B. Prasanth Kumar 1-0-1-0, D.B. Ravi Teja 1-0-3-0.
