Vijay Merchant Trophy: Nithish Kumar Reddy shines with seven wicket-haul
Hyderabad: K Nithish Kumar Reddy continued to rattle the opposition with both bat and ball as the Under 16 Andhra lad picked an economical seven-for to take his side closer to victory against Goa in their Vijay Merchant Trophy fifth round match at the NFC Grounds here on Wednesday.
On Day Two, Goa dismissed last two batters of Andhra to wrap their innings for 340. In response Goa completely lost the plot as Nithish ran through their batting line-up and the entire side fell like a pack of cards. Nithish finished the first innings with fine figures of 15.2-4-40-7 as the Goan innings ended at 110.
Without much delay, Andhra enforced the follow-on and their bowling unit continued to spoil Goa’s second essay too. Vasu picked 3 for 19 while Srikar and Nithish claimed one wicket each to reduce Goa to 79 for 5 when stumps were drawn.
At ECIL Grounds, Smaran R. scored a 129-ball 100 to take Karnataka’s tally to 350 before being bowled out in the 99th over. Later, Kerala finished the day at 55 for 4, still trailing Karnataka by 149 runs. At the Gymkhana Grounds, Hyderabad now lead Tamil Nadu by 110 runs as they ended the second day at 135 for 4 in their second innings. Earlier, the home side bowled out Tamil Nadu for 186 as T. Rohan claimed three wickets for Hyderabad.
Brief scores
At NFC Grounds: Andhra 340 in 96.1 (Shaik Kamil 30, Asif 38), Shadab Khan 2/60, Manish P. Kakode 4/109, Udit Yadav 4/40) vs Goa 110 in 48.2 overs (Anand R. Tendulkar 32, K. Nithish Kumar Reddy 7/40 — 15.2-4-40-7, Asif 2/7) and following on 79/5 in 31.3 overs (Kushal Hattangadi 26, Anand R. Tendulkar batting 27, Vasu 3/19, K. Nithish Kumar Reddy 1/11, Srikar 1/17).
At Gymkhana Grounds: Hyderabad 161 & 135/4 in 32 overs (P. Shiva batting 46), Y. Sai Varun 62, Manav Parakh 2/26) vs Tamil Nadu 186 in 79 overs (B. Sai Sudarshan 75 n.o, Manav Parakh 33, T. Rohan 3/50, D. Sai Sragvi 2/37, K. Anirudh Raj 2/27).
At ECIL Grounds: Kerala 146 & 55/4 in 22 overs (Rohan Nair batting 27), Kushal Gowda 2/18) vs Karnataka 350 in 98.2 overs (Kruthik Krishna 73, Chinmay N.A. 77, Smaran R. 100 — 129b, 15x4, Jaseer C.N. 2/128, Srivardhan Murali 2/61, Abi Biju 2/90).
