VIDARBHA captain Akshay Wadkar sat squatted at the non-striker’s end with his hands on his helmet, looking at his partner Danish Malewar in disbelief. Debutant Malewar was the last recognised batter and was looking good with his two boundaries. But his wicket in the 15th over of the day exposed Vidarbha’s tail. From 47-5, the hosts’ innings folded at 118 in 38.5 overs against Andhra on the opening day of the Ranji Trophy match at VCA Civil Lines ground on Friday morning. Wadkar was the lone survivor for Vidarbha with a gritty unbeaten 46. In reply, Andhra were 114-1, trailing by just four runs when the day was called off due to bad light. Opener Abhishek Reddy (62) and SK Rasheed (49) had added unbeaten 113 runs for the second wicket. Both batted with utmost ease and picked runs in boundaries without any trouble, finding gaps in the field. Vidarbha had a forgettable day.

 

 

If the batters failed in unison, their premier bowler Umesh Yadav hobbled out of the field due to an injury to his heel after bowling just 6.5 overs. In the morning, Vidarbha won the important toss but their decision to bat first backfired as the batters failed to apply themselves against Andhra’s three-pronged pace attack. None of the Vidarbha batters, barring skipper Wadkar, showed intent to stay in the middle. Only four of Vidarbha batters managed double digits while three failed to open their account. Wadkar’s 46 and 20 from pacer Umesh Yadav helped Vidarbha cross the 100-run mark. “We wanted to post 300 plus runs on this pitch. We all know that it would be difficult to bat in the fourth innings hence we decided to bat first. On any ground, the first hour of play happens to be crucial but our batter could not see off those 60 minutes in the morning,” explained a dejected looking Vidarbha captain Wadkar after the day’s play. Vidarbha got off to a disastrous start as opener Aman Mokhade got run out on the third ball of the innings. Atharva Taide and Mokhade went for a non-existent run and Tripurna Vijay’s direct hit from gully opened the floodgates for Andhra. Yash Rathod (0) was brilliantly caught at slips by Hanuma Vihari off CH Stephen in the third over and Taide (17) ballooned a simple catch to captain Ricky Bhui at short mid-off. Hopes rested on professional Karun Nair (12) and he carved out two beautiful boundaries, one through covers and the other through third man region. However, Andhra pacer KV Sasikanth brought the next delivery in to trap the batter in front of the wicket. Malewar showed grit and faced Andhra pacers confidently.

 

He left the away going deliveries and looked unfazed. But he tried to hit PVSN Raju walking down the track and edged the ball to SK Rasheed who grabbed a brilliant low catch. “Malewar was batting well. We were talking in the middle and he was confident. He had scored two beautiful boundaries and I asked him to stay put. But he went for that shot and our partnership got broken,” Wadkar reasoned for his reaction after his partner’s wicket. Wadkar and Yadav added 32 runs for the eighth wicket which helped Vidarbha cross the 100 runs mark. But Umesh’s decision to throw his bat four deliveries before lunch saw his and team’s downfall as Vidarbha’s innings folded 44 minutes after lunch. Andhra batters started their chase aggressively and scored 100 runs from 25 overs. They easily negotiated Vidarbha pacers -- Yadav, Aditya Thakare and Nachiket Bhute. “Umesh has an injury in his heel and he can’t run. He will not be able to bowl tomorrow. We will try to take wickets early tomorrow morning and if we fail to do so, we will go with a defensive approach,” Wadkar hinted.