NAGPUR: India pacer Avesh Khan squeezed the juice out of in-form Vidarbha batting line-up in freezing conditions at Indore. He exposed his rivals by swinging the ball throughout the day and put his side Madhya Pradesh in driver's seat on Day 2 of Ranji Trophy match here on Wednesday.
Avesh, who made the most of the green top at Holkar stadium, took five wickets at an economical 32 runs from 19 overs. The right-arm pacer left Vidarbha gasping at 145 for seven at stumps. The Faizal Fazal-led side is still trailing by 164 runs. They are replying to MP's 309.
Trouble began for Vidarbha early on the second day as they let the hosts' tailenders add 75 runs to their overnight total of 234 for six. On the pitch where Avesh nipped the ball impressively, no Vidarbha pacer barring Yash Thakur (4-59) looked up to the mark on the second morning.
MP coach Chandrakant Pandit must be a happy man as Avesh gave him the start he was looking for. The pacer grabbed bigfish Vidarbha captain Faiz Fazal (8) with just 13 runs on the board. Later, he cut short the stay of Atharva Taide (2) and Ganesh Satish (0), both in-form middle order batters, in a 2-over span.
With Vidarbha tottering at 19 for 3 by the 12th over, the onus was on reliable Akshay Wadkar. However, Avesh removed the in-form batter Wadkar and ended Mohit Kale's chapter (18) next to send half of Vidarbha side back in the hut for the score of 53.
Even as wickets kept falling at one end, opener Sanjay Raghunath (53) stood firm and added 60 runs for the sixth wicket with Aditya Sarwate (40), before the latter was run out. The hero of the day, Avesh, also chipped in with the bat by scoring a 31-ball 28.
Brief scores: Madhya Pradesh 309 all out in 108.2 overs (Rajat Patidar 121, Saransh Jain 61; Yash Thakur 4-59) vs Vidarbha 145-7 in 65 overs (Sanjay Raghunath 53 n.o; Avesh Khan 5-32)
