Owing to their bowler’s success, Avesh Khan in particular, Madhya Pradesh has gained an upper hand in the Vidarbha vs Madhya Pradesh Ranji Trophy semifinal on Day 1. After winning the toss and electing to bowl first at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur, the MP bowlers proved to be good for Vidarbha.
In just 56.4 overs, the first inning of Vidarbha was over. Settling for just 170 runs, barring Karun Nair, no one stood up. With momentum on their side, Madhya Pradesh erased the trail down to 123 runs with nine wickets still in hand and four days left to put themselves ahead.
Vidarbha Aims to repeat glorious past
Vidarbha enters the semi-final as the table-toppers of Ranji Trophy Elite Group A, having secured five wins out of seven games. They continued their dominant run in the quarter-final, defeating Karnataka by a convincing 127 runs.
Opener Atharva Taide’s 109-run knock laid the foundation for their formidable first-innings total, while bowler Aditya Sarwate’s seven wickets across both innings restricted Karnataka and secured a comfortable victory.
Madhya Pradesh seeks to upset favorites:
Madhya Pradesh, on the other hand, finished first in Elite Group D with four wins in seven games. They edged past Andhra by a narrow margin of four runs in their quarter-final encounter.
Himanshu Mantri’s consistent batting performance, with scores of 49 and 43, provided crucial support at the top of the order. However, it was Anubhav Agarwal’s exceptional bowling display, claiming nine wickets, that propelled them to a nail-biting victory.
Renewed Ranji Trophy rivalry
This clash holds additional significance as both teams share a recent history of Ranji Trophy glory. Interestingly, coach Chandrakant Pandit, currently with Madhya Pradesh, has masterminded victories for both teams in the past five years: back-to-back titles for Vidarbha in 2017-18 and 2018-19, and a championship win for Madhya Pradesh in 2021-22. This adds an extra layer of intrigue to the upcoming encounter.
How to Catch Action: Vidarbha vs Madhya Pradesh LIVE
The Vidarbha vs Madhya Pradesh Ranji Trophy semi-final will be telecast live on the Sports18 network in India and streamed live on the JioCinema app and website. With both teams boasting exceptional talent and a shared history of success, this match promises to be a captivating and closely contested battle for a coveted spot in the Ranji Trophy final.
VID vs MP Squads
Vidarbha Full Squad: Atharva Taide, Dhruv Shorey, Yash Rathod, Karun Nair, Akshay Wadkar (c) (wk), Mohit Kale, Aditya Sarwate, Harsh Dubey, Yash Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Aditya Thakare, Faiz Fazal, Akshay Wakhare, Sanjay Raghunath, Rajneesh Gurbani, Lalit M Yadav, Siddhesh Wath, Jitesh Sharma, Darshan Nalkande, Shubham Dubey.
Madhya Pradesh Full Squad: Yash Dubey, Himanshu Mantri (wk), Harsh Gawli, Shubham S Sharma (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Sumit Kushwah, Saransh Jain, Anubhav Agarwal, Kumar Kartikeya, Avesh Khan, Kulwant Khejroliya, Amarjeet Singh, Aditya Shrivastava, Mihir Hirwani, Rishabh Chouhan, Aryan Pandey.
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