VIDARBHA colts were on verge of taking first innings lead over Andhra in their Cooch Behar Trophy match at Kalamna ground on Sunday. Vidarbha had scored 308 on opening day of the four-day meet and by end of the day, they had reduced the visitors to 2-13.

But the first couple of sessions on second day entirely belonged to Andhra batters — opener K Revanth Reddy (118; 256b, 20x4) and skipper S Venkata Rahul (92; 259b, 11x4, 3x6) who put their foot down and played the balls on merit. The duo added 198 runs for the third wicket consuming 471 balls and frustrating Vidarbha bowlers.

Rahul was unlucky to have missed out on a hundred but at the same time credit must be given to Vidarbha bowlers who hung on and did not lose heart.

When they had their time during fag end of the day, they made most of it. On last ball of the 81st over, left-arm spinner Gaurav Farde (2-56) broke the partnership and then seamer Rajsingh Chauhan (4-37) and Sanyog Shyam Bhagwat (3-49) ran through the middle and lower orders to reduce the opponents to 258-9 in 96 overs. With a lead of 50 runs, Vidarbha are poised to take the first innings lead.

Brief scores: Vid 308 (Jagjot (101*, T Suryavanshi60; SV Rahul 3-10) vs Andhra 258-9(KR Reddy 118, Rahul 92; R Chauhan 4-37, S Bhagwat 3-49).