Vidarbha smell victory

 

 

 

BET on Vidarbha stumper Akshay Wadkar scoring a century after his skipper Faiz Fazal has got one in the game. There is very high percentage of chances that the bet would be won. Middle-order batsman Wadkar has struck five of his six hundreds when the southpaw opener has hit one in the same match. Riding on Faiz’s (192; 302b, 27x4, 3x6) big hundred and Wadkar’s (102*; 150b, 15x4) sixth First-Class ton followed by Apoorv Wankhade’s (66; 117b, 6x4, 2x6) half century and then two quick wickets during closing of the game on third day of their Ranji Trophy match, the former two-time champions Vidarbha were smelling an outright win in the tournament opener.

 

 

 

It will be a great start to the event that is being held after two years as the teams are scheduled to play just three league games before they move into the knock-out zone. Resuming at their overnight score of 256-2, the team declared their first innings at 548-6 in 151 overs with a substantial lead of 247 runs. Vidarbha pacer Aditya Thakare and left-arm spinner Aditya Sarvate, who returned with a five-wicket haul in the first innings, took one wicket apiece leaving UP reeling at 32-2 in 16 overs. If Vidarbha are able to bowl out the rivals not conceding more than 214 runs more on the last day, they will pick a bonus point too.

 

 

 

 

Vidarbha and Faiz continued from where they left a day earlier. The batsman soon completed his 150 and in company of Ganesh Satish (38) added 115 runs for the third wicket partnership that was dominated by Faiz. Ganesh, who was happy to play second fiddle in spite of hitting six crisp boundaries, became the victim of 18-year-old seamer Aaqib Khan in the 100th over of the innings. The partnership between Faiz and new man Wadkar did not bloom as in the very next over, Faiz was declared lbw to slow left-arm orthodox Saurabh Kumar, who was drafted into the India Test for his maiden India call on Saturday. The batsman’s wagon wheel was full of spokes of all sizes all round the circle.

 

The spokes that pierced the circumference thrice was however, on the leg side. Two sixes were hit over the mid-wicket region while one was over the long-on. Had the batsman made eight more runs, he would have scored his third double century in First-Class cricket. The two new batsmen at the crease — Wadkar and Wankhade started from scratch and went on to dominate the proceedings as soon as they found their groove. The wicketkeeper-batter Wadkar was his usual busy player while the big-hitter Wankhade displayed more maturity in the longest format by playing a restraint knock. After completing his fifty and adding 135 runs for the fifth wicket, Wankhade got out. All-rounder Akshay Karnewar came out with a license to hit. He went after the bowlers collecting 30 from 36 balls hitting three sixes and a four. Karnewar was dismissed by Kumar when Wadkar was eight short of his hundred. Sarvate (3*) hung on with Wadkar and as soon as the batsman reached to that magical three-digit score, Vidarbha declared. In an hour or so, Vidarbha got what they wanted. Thakare and Sarvate gave them two top wickets by the day end.