VIDARBHA bowlers, led by pacer Nachiket Bhute, who took two wickets in first two balls of the match, decimated Sikkim batting as Vidarbha recorded a thumping seven-wicket win, their first of the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-dayers, at 22 Yards, Salt Lake in Kolkata on Tuesday.

Electing to bat, Sikkim were shot out for a low score of 97 in 26.5 overs. Vidarbha also lost two batsmen early on but Jitesh Sharma (48; 29b, 5x4, 4x6) exhibited his hitting prowess and later seasoned batters Ganesh Satish (25*; 34b, 3x4) and skipper Akshay Wadkar (22*; 36b, 3x4) hit the required runs with 196 balls remaining as Vidarbha logged first points of the tourney.

Bhute (7-0-29-3), drafted in place of India pacer Umesh Yadav, justified his inclusion by removing Pankaj Rawat on first ball having him adjudged leg before wicket and then had Nilesh Lamichaney caught at the wicket by Wadkar on the very next ball. Aditya Sarvate (7-2-18-3) also took three wickets while Lalit Yadav and Darshan Nalkande chipped in with a two and one wicket respectively.

Save for No 5 Sumit Singh’s (53; 61b, 4x4, 4x6) counter-attacking fifty, Sikkim would not have reached that score. In fact, the team was 8-50 and Singh added 47 with the last two batters.

During their chase, Vidarbha lost former skipper Faiz Fazal and R Sanjay with four on board. Sharma and Ganesh added 55 runs and after Sharma’s dismissal, Ganesh and Wadkar weaved an unbeaten 42-run partnership for the fourth wicket taking the team home in 18th over.