SKIPPER Atharva Taide led from the front missing his maiden T20 hundred by just three runs and the bowlers made merry against a mediocre Puducherry line-up as Vidarbha registered a thumping 103 runs win in Group D league game of Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at PCA Ground in Mullanpur, Mohali on Monday. Batting first for first time in the tournament, Vidarbha scored what might be termed as a below par score considering the form their batters are in and the opponents they were facing. With a fine score from the blade of Taide (97; 58b, 11x4, 3x6), who almost carried the bat through, Vidarbha made 177-7 and with all the bowlers sharing spoils, they bowled out the opponents for a paltry 74 in a dominant show. Puducherry’s decision to put Vidarbha in, looked vindicated as they sent both the professionals — Dhruv Shorey (0) and Karun Nair (3) back in the dug out with the scorecard reading 2-20 at end of three overs. Taide mixed caution and aggression and took care of one end. Akshay Wadkar, who got his fist game of the series, made 23 hitting two sixes while Shubham Dubey, who made a 12-ball 23 including a four and couple of sixes, was out for the first time in four outings.

 

Darshan Nalkande hit a four and a six to score 13 from six balls but Vidarbha fell short of what they have expected against the minnows. Taide missed out on a well-deserved hundred by getting run out three short of the three-digit score. The bowlers had a different idea though. Led by India pacer Umesh Yadav, all the bowlers who got a chance to roll the arm over, returned with a wicket. Yadav and Nalkande had an identical figures of 2-6 from two overs each. Left-arm medium pacer Dipesh Parwani, who made his T20 debut replacing Saurabh Dubey, did justice to his inclusion by taking 2-11 from his 12 balls. Left-arm spinners Harsh Dubey (2-20), Aditya Sarvate (1-21) and Akshay Karnewar (1-9) completed the rout.