Fine ton by Venugopal Rao

Y Venugopal Rao scored 140 as Andhra Pradesh piled 361 against hosts Madhya Pradesh on the second-day of the four-day Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match at the Usha Raje ground in Indore on Monday.

In reply, MP were 155 for loss of four wickets, with skipper Amay Khurasia hitting a half century, studded with six boundaries and a six, and Naman Ojha scoring 61.

It was veteran leg spinner Narendra Hirwani who gave MP the much-needed breakthrough after AP resumed at the overnight score of 266 for loss of six wickets when he got the wicket of Venugopala Rao.

Hirwani also got rid of Shahbuddin (86, 4x12) and Mohd Faiq (06) to become the most successful bowler for MP. Shanatanu Pitr bowled D Kalyan Krishna (01) as AP were all out for 361.

Sachin Dhalpure and Naman Ojha opened the MP innings in the post lunch session, but before they could set their eyes in, Dholpure (12, 4x3) was trapped leg before in the fourth over.

Later, Ojha (61 4x11) and skipper Khurasia added 110 runs for the second wicket to put MP in a comfortable position.

However, Y V Gopal Rao soon had Ojha caught behind by M S K Prasad with the scoreboard reading 123.

Mohd Faiq later bowled Amay Khurasia (50) and trapped Devendra Bundela (19) leg before.

At stumps, Nikhil Patwardhan was batting on eight and Abbas Ali was on one.

Scoreboard

Andhra Pradesh (Ist innings):
L N Prasad Reddy c R Yengde b S Pandey 2
Amit Pathak c N Hirwani b S Pitre 38
M Suresh lbw b D Bundela 10
Y Venugopal Rao c Y Gowalkar b N Hirwani 140
M S K Prasad b S Pitre 20
Y Ganeswar Rao lbw b N Hirwani 19
R V Ch Prasad c D Bundela b A Ali 25
K Shahbuddin b N Hirwani 86
M D Faiq c sub Jukhar b N Hirwani 6
D Kalyan Krishna b S Pitre 1
V V V Appa Rao not out 3

Extras: (b-2, lb-1, nb-8) 11

Total: (all out in 122.4 overs) 361

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-36, 3-67, 4-120, 5-147, 6-197, 7-340 8-350, 9-352

Bowling: Sanjay Pandey 24-5-72-1, Shantanu Pitre 26-6-75-3, Devendra Bundela 9-3-27-1, Yogesh Golwalkar 24-7-80-0, Narendra Hirwani 34.4.-6-89-4, Abbas Ali 5-1-15-1.

Madhya Pradesh (Ist Innings):
Sachin Dholpure lbw D K Krishna 12
Naman Ojha c MSK Prasad b YV Gopalrao 61
Amay Khurasia b M D Faiq 50
Devendra Bundela lbw b Md Faiq 19
Nikhil Patwardhan batting 8
Abbas Ali batting 1

Extras: (b-2, nb-2) 4

Total: (for four wkts, 57 overs) 155

Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-123, 3-146, 4-147

Bowling: K Shahabuddin 7-1-31-0, D Kalyankrishna 10-4-15-1, R V Ch Prasad 5-2-23-0, M D Faiq 18-4-54-2, V V V Appa Rao 6-2-11-0, Y V Gopal Rao 10-2-17-1, M Suresh 1-0-2-0.