VIDARBHA bowlers, led by Yash Thakur, and skipper-opener Atharva Taide excelled as they thrashed Jharkhand by 10 wickets in Group B match of the Vijay Hazare (One-Day) Trophy at Jaipuria Vidyalaya ground in Jaipur on Wednesday. After the bowlers wreaked havoc bundling out Jharkhand, that boast of a very good batting line-up, for a paltry 107 all out in 33.1 overs, Taide and former captain Akshay Wadkar knocked off the required runs without being separated in a mere 13.4 overs making mockery of Jharkhand attack that included Varun Aaron, once labelled as the fastest Indian bowler. Yash Thakur (7.1-2-27-3), Akshay Karnewar (8-2-16-2) and Darshan Nalkande (6-1-16-2) vindicated Taide’s decision to bowl first. Umesh Yadav and Harsh Dubey chipped in with a wicket each. After Yadav started with a maiden, Thakur got wicket on his first ball having Aryaman Sen caught by Taide for a golden duck. Yadav trapped other opener Kumar Deobrat for three and at the same score of 13, Thakur had skipper and dangerman Virat Singh with Karun Nair completing the catch.

 

Vikash Vishal (21) and Saurabh Tiwary (19) took the score to 60 when Nalkande castled the latter. Once again, a wicket fell at the same score with Akshay Karnewar removed Vishal taken by Nair. Nalkande hit the sticks once again sending back Supriyo Chakraborty and the team slumped to 6-68. Number 8 Anukul Roy (25; 45b, 1x4, 1x6) was the top-scorer and took the team past the three-digit mark. And if one thought there was devil in the wicket, Vidarbha openers Taide and Wadkar, who was promoted to open, quelled all doubts hitting all of the required runs without being separated. Taide remained unbeaten on 70 that came from 46 balls. His knock included ten hits to the ropes and one over it. Wadkar played 36 balls and hit four fours in his 33 not out.

 

With four wins from as many games, Vidarbha sit comfortably at the top of Group B with 16 points and a net run-rate of 2.490. They play Chhattisgarh next on December 1 with matches against Hyderabad and Services to follow. This is Vidarbha’s second 10-wicket victory in Vijay Hazare Trophy. They drubbed Andhra by the same margin in 2015-16 at New Delhi. BRIEF SCORES Jharkhand 107 all out in 33.1 overs (Anukul Roy 25; Yash Thakur 3-27, Darshan Nalkande 2-16, Akshay Karnewar 2-16) lost to Vidarbha 111-0 in 13.4 overs (Atharva Taide 70*, Akshay Wadkar 33*) by 10 wkts.