Anubhav Agarwal ran through Andhra’s batting lineup with a superb six-wicket haul to propel Madhya Pradesh into the semifinals of the Ranji Trophy following a four-run victory over Andhra here on Monday.
In a low-scoring quarterfinal played at the Holkar Stadium, bowlers ruled the roost for the majority of the contest and despite a spirited fight from the visiting side; Madhya Pradesh prevailed to make it to the final four.
With this win, the 2021-22 champions Madhya Pradesh became the second team after Tamil Nadu to enter the semifinals.
On what turned out to be the final day, Andhra were bowled out for a mere 165 chasing 170 to win on the fourth day.
Resuming at 95/4 and with their senior batter Hanuma Vihari on strike with 75 runs more needed to win, Andhra were the more confident side but Agarwal led a stunning fightback once again for Madhya Pradesh.
Having taken three wickets in the first innings to help Madhya Pradesh take a vital lead of 62 runs, Agarwal terrorised the Andhra batters in the second innings to return figures of 6/52 from 19 overs.
Kulwant Khejroliya picked 2/40 while Kumar Kartikeya and Saransh Jain bagged one wicket apiece.
Agarwal struck thrice to put Madhya Pradesh in complete command when he had overnight batter Karan Shinde (14) trapped leg-before in the 51st over of the innings.
In his next over, Agarwal had Vihari (55 off 136 balls, 5 fours) caught by wicketkeeper Himanshu Mantri and pinned Shoaib Mohammed Khan (0) in front of the wickets for a first-ball duck.
While Khejroliya removed KV Sasikanth (7), Andhra threatened to take the game away from MP’s grasp with a 32-run stand for the ninth wicket between Girinath Reddy (15 off 42 balls) and Ashwin Hebbar (22 off
52 balls).
With five runs needed for Andhra to win, Khejroliya trapped No 7 Hebbar (22 off 42 balls) to deliver a narrow win for his side.
For his match-haul of 9/85, Agarwal was declared the player of the match.