Solanki, Martin lead Vadodara to a decent 262/3 against AP

Vadodara, Dec 19 (UNI) Riding on a brilliant unbeaten century by Rakesh Solanki (104) and his 167-run partnership with skipper Jacob Martin (78), hosts Vadodara piled up 262 for 3 on the penultimate day of their four-day Super League Ranji Trophy Group 'A' match against Andhra Paradesh here today.

With only a day's play remaining, Vadodara, who are replying to Andhra's first innings total of 342, now require only 89 runs with seven wickets in hand to take the vital first innings lead against the visitors.

Resuming at the overnight score of 33 without loss, Vadodara suffered an early jolt when its in-form opener Connor Williams (23), made his exit on the very fourth delivery from Andhra speedster K S Shahbuddin. However, Rakesh Solanki and the other opener Satyajit Parab (45) consolidated the innings with a fine 51-run stand before Shahbuddin struck again dismissing Parab for 45. Then came the all important 167-run partnership between Solanki and skipper Jacob Martin for the third wicket which took Vadodara score from 88 to 255. Dominating the proceedings with superb batting display, the duo occupied the crease for 253 minutes to hit 167 off 418 balls.

A desperate Andhra skipper Y Venugopal Rao, who brought seven of his boys into the attack to separate the duo, finally succeeded in the 102nd over through medium pacer D Kalyan Krishna, who scalped Martin's wicket barely 20 minutes before the draw of stumps for the day.

Solanki remained unbeaten on 104 which included 14 boundaries, while Martin had eight fours in his 78. For Andhra, Shahbuddin claimed 2 for 43 followed by Kalyan Krishna (1 for 44). Debutant P Vijay Kumar was disappointed as he conceded 29 runs in 19 overs he bowled without any gain.

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