Srivastava, Bundela lead fine rally

Ankit Srivastava and Devendra Bundela led a fine rally as hosts Madhya Pradesh recovered from 77/5 to end the first day of their Central Zone Ranji Trophy clash against Vidarbha on a respectable 317/8.

After Vidarbha on the toss and elected to field, MP lost allrounder Harvinder Sodhi, who opens both the batting and the bowling, and onedrop Amay Khurasia cheaply. Bundela and Jai Prakash Yadayv then led a semblance of a recovery, adding 56 before medium pacer Umesh Patil struck. The 21 year old took three wickets in three sucessive overs to leave MP floundering at 77/5. Bundela and skipper Chandrakant Pandit added 50 for the sixth wicket before the veteran fell for a brisk 31 off just 39 balls.

At 127/6, things were still looking bleak for MP. But Bundela and Srivastava turned things around with a 108 run stand that ended when the former gave wicket keeper Vinay Naidu his fourth catch behind the stumps. His 83 came off 204 balls and featured 13 fours and one six. Srivastava did not falter though, and shepherded the tail through to 317/8 in 90 overs. He will be looking to add more to a brisk undefeated 117 (137 balls, 20 fours) when the match resumes on Tuesday.