Ranji Trophy: Madhya Pradesh Beat Andhra To Set Up Semi-final

The reigning champions Madhya Pradesh finished their miraculous comeback as they defeated Andhra by five wickets on Friday to advance to the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals in Indore, riding half-centuries from opener Yash Dubey and Rajat Patidar.The reigning champions Madhya Pradesh completed their miraculous comeback as they defeated Andhra by five wickets on Friday to advance to the Ranji Trophy quarterfinals in Indore, riding half centuries from openers Yash Dubey and Rajat Patidar. Following a significant first innings deficit of 151 runs, MP recovered on the third day of play on Thursday by dismissing Andhra for only 93 runs in 32.3 overs in the visitor team's second innings. To win the quarterfinal game, MP needed to score 245 runs. On Thursday, they were 58 for no losses.They won the game with a day to spare by scoring the last 187 runs in 61 overs on Friday.

Hanuma Vihari, the skipper of Andhra, put in valiant attempts, batting with one hand in both of his innings due to a wrist injury, but his team was unable to prevent MP from reaching 245 for 5 in 77 overs.On February 8, MP will play Bengal in the semifinals in a rematch of the past edition's last-four stage encounter. That game was won by MP in Alur, Karnataka, by 174 runs.On Friday's fourth day, the bulk of the MP top order batsmen contributed, with the exception of skipper Aditya Shrivastava (2).

The day's second ball saw opener and wicketkeeper-batter Himanshu Mantri leave the field without adding to his overnight total of 31 runs.Before Shubham Sharma (40) and Dubey (58) were both out, they exchanged 62 runs for the second wicket. Patidar (55) and Saransh Jain (28 not out) added 49 runs together for the fourth wicket to lift MP to 207 for 4. As Harsh Gawli (18 years of age or older) and Jain finished the paperwork, MP could then be taken home.

Brief Scores:

Madhya Pradesh: 228 and 245 for 5 (Yash Dubey 58, Rajat Patidar 55; Lalith Mohan 2/91, Prithvi Raj 2/50);

Andhra:379 and 93 in 77 overs.