New Delhi: Kerala suffered a late collapse to go down to Andhra by seven runs in their opening Elite Group B match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day championship here on Wednesday.

Chasing a modest target of 191, Kerala openers Jalaj Saxena (46) and K B Arun Karthick (32) put on 72 inside 15 overs.

Though Kerala slipped to 90/3, skipper Sachin Baby (57) and V A Jagadeesh (28) put the chase back on track with an 80-run stand.

The dismissal of Sachin by Karn Sharma triggered a rather inexplicable collapse as Kerala were bowled out for 183 in 49.1 overs. Kerala lost their last seven wickets for just 13 runs.

Earlier, Kerala spinners Akshay Chandran and S Midun spun a web around the Andhra batsmen to bundle them out for 190 in 49 overs.

Andhra, who opted to bat on winning the toss, lost openers Ashwin Hebbar (7) and K S Bharat (7) cheaply. Captain Hanuma Vihari, who made an impressive Test debut against England at the Oval, and Ricky Bhui fell to debutant left-arm spinner Akashay. Vihari made 27, while Bhui cold score only 11.

B Sumanth (79) and D B Ravi Teja (44) added 96 runs for the fifth wicket to revive the innings. However, leggie Midhun removed both the set batsmen as Andhra lost their last six wickets for a mere 11 runs.

Kerala next meet Odisha on Friday.

Brief scores: Andhra 190 all out in 49 overs (B Sumanth 79, D B Ravi Teja 44; S Midhun 3/56, Sachin Baby 2/18, Akshay Chandran 2/42) bt Kerala 183 all out in 49.1 overs (Sachin Baby 57, Jalaj Saxena 46; Karn Sharma 3/37, Ricky Bhui 2/8).

Points: Andhra 4; Kerala 0.

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