THOUGH it is early stages in the tournament, a big loss to Rajasthan in their last Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT) match has put Vidarbha in a spot of bother. With tough teams in their Elite Group A, Vidarbha must take all their remaining games seriously starting with Mizoram whom they meet at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium Ground C on Friday.

In the 8-team group, Vidarbha are sitting at seventh spot with a very poor net run rate of minus 0.721. Six teams, including Vidarbha, have won and lost one from their two games to be on four points each. Mumbai have won both their games while Mizoram lost both of their ties. A huge win is need of the hour for Vidarbha to improve their NRR ahead of their important matches against the likes of Mumbai Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Railways.

There were some positives in the loss to Rajasthan. Southpaw opener and vice-captain Atharva Taide and young Aman Mokhade, who is just two-match old for the senior side, played aggressive brand of cricket. Skipper Akshay Wadkar had a good outing in the first game against Assam and it is high time talented players like Jitesh Sharma and Apoorv Wankhade got going.

Vidarbha bowling has not been up to the mark in both the games. They could take only six wickets in the two games combined. They were expected to run through Assam but managed to send back only half the team while they had just one wicket to show for against Rajasthan.

Vidarbha must pull their socks now, else it will be too late. Colts play Tripura in final league match VIDARBHA Under-19 boys, who recorded victory in their only completed match of Vinoo Mankad Trophy against Meghalaya by seven wickets, will take on Tripura at DY Patil Academy, Ambi, Pune on Friday.

In the six-team Group C, Vidarbha are placed second with ten points and are followed by Odisha who also have same points. But Vidarbha have very good NRR of 4.554 as compared to that of Odisha (2.850). A win would almost put them in the knock-outs. With two wins and as many no-results in rain-affected tournament, Rajasthan are leading the pool with 12 points.