TWENTY20 is anybody’s game. Name and statistics take a back seat when two teams square up for a match in the shortest format. Vidarbha, who have proved themselves in the longest format winning a couple of Ranji Trophy and Irani Cup crowns, are yet to lift a white-ball trophy. And, they would like to step an inch closer to realising their dreams when they clash with Mumbai in the quarter-finals of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Twenty20 Trophy to be played in Alur on Wednesday.

 

 

Led by India player Jitesh Sharma, the team has all the wherewithal to stun the domestic giants. The team also boasts of as many as six players who have been picked for different IPL franchises — Sharma, Karun Nair, Atharva Taide, Darshan Nalkande, Yash Thakur and Shubham Dubey. Vidarbha have had a decent outing in the league stage where they topped Group D with four wins from six games earning 18 points. They ended with a super healthy net run rate of 1.839. On their way to the last-eight, Vidarbha defeated Chhattisgarh (by 16 runs), Assam (by 8 wickets), Pondicherry (by 7 wickets) and Odisha (by 33 runs). In a high-scoring game against Chandigarh, Vidarbha went down by just by 5 runs while their match against Railways was abandoned due to rains. Mumbai also topped Group E with 20 points.

 

They won five matches and lost to Kerala who amassed 234-5 in 20 overs and then restricted Mumbai to 191-9. Vidarbha batters must take a cue from that game to exploit Mumbai bowling which does not look very menacing. Led by pro Karun Nair, who has scored 229 runs coming at an Strike Rate of 177.51, Vidarbha batters have the capability to play in top gear. On their day, Sharma, Dubey and Apoorv Wankhade can clear the ropes by quite a distance. Seam bowling all-rounder Nalknade has been their most successful bowler with 12 scalps. A lot will depend on him and Yash Thakur with the ball in hand. Vidarbha will have to be careful while tackling Mumbai batters led by Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw, Angkrish Raghuvanshi and Ajinkya Rahane, who all are proven customers. Mumbai have won all their four previous meetings against Vidarbha in SMAT, and Wednesday presents an opportunity for the latter to write a fresh chapter. Vidarbha: Jitesh Sharma (Captain & wk), Atharva Taide (Vice-captain), Akshay Wadkar (wk), Karun Nair, Apoorv Wankhade, Akshay Karnewar, Shubham Dubey, Harsh Dubey, Aman Mokhade, Danish Malewar, Yash Thakur, Darshan Nalkande, Parth Rekhade, Mandar Mahale, Dipesh Parwani, Praful Hinge.