AT LUNCH, with Andhra cruising at 163-1, Vidarbha’s hope of a win was slowly evaporating. But the 11 men in the middle were confident and had belief in each other. The lunch break helped Vidarbha regroup and the two-time Ranji champions showed tremendous courage to take nine wickets in the second session to snatch a 74 runs outright victory against Andhra at VCA Civil Lines ground, on Monday. The second new ball did the trick as pacer Aditya Thakare (4-74) snared three wickets in one over to floor Andhra and help Vidarbha collect six points from their opening encounter. Thakare broke the backbone of Andhra first by sending captain Ricky Bhui (26) back on the second ball of his over with Wadkar grabbing the catch.

 

 

The next delivery nipped in and rattled new man T Vijay’s furniture. Two deliveries later, Lalith Mohan (0) poked his bat to a widish delivery to give Thakare his third wicket. Captain Akshay Wadkar was acrobatic in taking the catch of Mohan diving to his right. An over later, Thakare completed the formalities taking the wicket of Andhra’s last man KV Sasikanth. This stunning win will boost Vidarbha’s confidence tremendously given that they were one bowler short from Day One with premier pacer Umesh Yadav getting injured bowling only 6.5 overs. Vidarbha were unable to find success in the morning session with overnight batters Abhishek Reddy (78) and Shaikh Rasheed (74) going strong. Spinners Akshay Wakhare (2-71) and Harsh Dubey (4-69) tried all tricks but somehow were unable to break the partnership. There were edges that flew from the bats which at time beat wicketkeeper captain Akshay Wadkar as well as short-leg fielder Danish Malewar. Finally, the moment for Vidarbha to cheer came in the seventh over after lunch break when Abhishek was trapped in front off Wakhare.

 

The dent was made in Andhra batting and Vidarbha bowlers pounced on the opportunity. Next to go was Rasheed with Dubey finding his pads in front of the wicket. From 163-1, Andhra were reduced to 189-3. India stumper KS Bharat tried to release the pressure but was caught at point region by Aman Mokhade off Dubey and then Ashwin Hebbar was caught by Malewar at short leg off Wakhare. The writing was on the wall for Andhra and Vidarbha took the new ball and Thakare made full use of it, completing the formalities wiping out the remaining wickets in no time. Vidarbha will now travel to Pondicherry on Tuesday for their second match of Group B starting October 18.

 

 

Vidarbha were dealt with a severe blow when India pacer Umesh was ruled out for at least four weeks due to tendinitis injury. The fast bowler suffered the injury during Vidarbha’s bowling on the first day of their Ranji Trophy match against Vidarbha at VCA Civil Lines ground. Yadav limped back to the pavilion midway and was unable to bowl in the match. He did come to bat and scored three boundaries but was unable to bowl in Vidarbha’s second innings. “His injury is not good. The tendinitis got injured while he was bowling on the opening day of the match. “It will take at least four week to heal and he would be unable to take part in the next three matches of Vidarbha,” said Vidarbha team physio Nitin Khurana, after the match. Meanwhile, Dhruv Shorey was declared fit for the second match and was included in the team along with Parth Rekhade. Rekhade will replace Mandar Mahale in the squad. THE SQUAD: Akshay Wadkar (C & WK), Atharva Taide (VC), Aman Mokhade, Yash Rathod, Harsh Dubey, Akshay Karnewar, Yash Kadam, Akshay Wakhare, Aditya Thakare, Shubham Kapse, Nachiket Bhute, Siddhesh Wath (WK), Praful Hinge, Danish Malewar, Parth Rekhade, Karun Nair, Dhruv Shorey.