INDORE: India pacer Avesh Khan broke the back of Vidarbha's top-order with a five-wicket haul as Madhya Pradesh took control of their Group D Ranji Trophy match here on Wednesday.
A nippy bowler, with an ability to move the ball both ways, Avesh finished the second day's play with excellent figures of 5/32 in 19 overs to leave Vidarbha at 145 for seven, still 164 runs adrift of MP's first-innings total of 309 all out.
Madhya Pradesh's innings came to a close after they added 75 runs to their overnight total of 234 for six.
Avesh gave MP the start they were hoping for with the ball, removing Vidarbha captain Faiz Fazal (8) with just 13 runs on the board.
Avesh, then, got the wickets of Atharva Taide (2) and Ganesh Satish (0) in the space of two overs, leaving Vidarbha reeling at 19 for three in the 12th over at the Holkar Cricket Stadium.
Avesh was not done yet as he next bowled Akshay Wadkar for a duck, before dismissing Mohit Kale (18) to ensure that Vidarbha's team was back in the dressing room with only 53 runs on the board.
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.
Medium-pacer Yash Thakur was Vidarbha's most successful bowler, returning with figures of 4/59 in 24.2 overs.
Brief scores:
At Indore: 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 batting 53; Avesh Khan 5/32).
At Valsad: Punjab 286 all out in 96.1 overs (Nehal Wadhera 123, Chintan Gaja 5/66) vs Gujarat 97 all out in 34.2 overs (Baltej Singh 7/28).
At Surat: Railways 427 all out in 105.1 overs (Mohammad Saif 233) vs J&K 161 all out in 60.3 overs (Akash Pandey 6/49) and 5/0 in 4 overs.
