NAGPUR: Promising left-arm pacer Rajsingh Chauhan (8-0-39-4) produced yet another brilliant performance on Monday to put Vidarbha in command against Andhra on Day 3 of Cooch Behar Trophy match.
Chasing 265 for win, Andhra had a minimum one hour on Monday plus the entire Tuesday to knock off the target. It was not a tough task for them. However, Rajsingh, a consistent performer, stunned them. He grabbed all the 4 wickets that fell to reduce Andhra to 56 for 4 in 16 overs.
Rajsingh, who took 4 wickets in the first innings as well, swung the ball sharply for a leg before and two caught behind dismissals. He uprooted furniture of No. 5 batter to keep Vidarbha in command.
Before Rajsingh made the ball do the talking, his teammate Jagjot Singh, centurion of the 1st innings, once again played a crucial (86; 87b, 7x4, 6x6) knock to set a respectable target. The right-hander Jagjot maintained strike rate of 98.85.
After taking a 43-run lead, Vidarbha were in trouble having lost top-4 for 82. That's when Jagjot and skipper Mohd. Faiz (34 off 112b) joined hands and swelled the lead considerably with a 96-run union for the 5th wicket.
It was good to see skipper Faiz getting some runs under his belt. His form would be important going ahead in the tournament.
Earlier in the morning, Andhra made 265 in the 1st innings after starting at the overnight score of 258 for 9.
Brief Scores: Vidarbha 308 & 221 all out in 64.3 overs (J Sasan 86, Md. Faiz 34; Mallikarjuna 3-31, Ullinga 3-64, TA Hemanth 3-57) vs Andhra (overnight 258-9) 265 in 100.5 overs (K Revanth 118, S Venkata 92; Rajsingh 4-40, S Bhagwat 3-49, G Farde 2-56) & 56 for 4 in 16 overs (Rajsingh 4-39).
