Bundela, Yadav help MP recover

Madhya Pradesh recovered from a hesitant start to post 320 for six off 90 overs at stumps on the first day of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal against Orissa at Gwalior on Thursday.

Put in to bat, MP lost an early wicket when Naman Ojha (11) was caught by wicketkeeper Gopal off Mullick with the total 23 in the tenth over. However, the other opener HS Sodhi (57) and Amay Khurasiya (28) added 60 runs for the second wicket off 11.3 overs. Sodhi, batting confidently, duly brought up his half century but with the total 119, he was caught by Orissa skipper Sanjay Raul off P Jaichandra for 57. Sodhi faced 126 balls and hit seven of them to the fence.

Abbas Ali did not last long and gave Mullick a return catch when 16. This made MP 156 for four. But a recovery was round the corner. First, Devendra Bundela (78) and JP Yadav (64) added 98 runs for the fifth wicket off 26 overs. The two in form batsmen played the Orissa bowling with more than a degree of comfort. Bundela was finally caught by Gopal off Pradip Das. He faced 173 balls and hit 13 fours. A further 39 runs were added for the sixth wicket off nine overs between Yadav and skipper Chandrakant Pandit before the former was caught by Satpathy off Jaganath Das. Yadav faced 95 balls and hit five of them to the ropes. Pandit (18) and Ankit Shriwastav (22) then carried on till close.