Vidarbha claim 1st innings lead

 

 

 

 

 

AKSHAY Wakhare and Harsh Dubey claimed three wickets apiece as Vidarbha dismissed Pondicherry for 209 in their first innings on Day 3 of their four-day Ranji Trophy Elite Group B match in Pondicherry on Sunday. Pacers Praful Hingne (2-42) and Aditya Thakare (1-20) too shared the spoils to hand Vidarbha a handy 74-run lead. Vidarbha stretched their lead to 99 runs as they ended the day on 25-3 in their second innings. Dhruv Shorey, Atharva Taide and Aman Mokhade were the men who got out in last hour.

 

When stumps were drawn, Karun Nair was batting on two. Giving him company was nightwatch-man Aditya Thakare, who was yet to get off the mark. Sagar Udeshi took two wickets while Ankit Sharma chipped in with a wicket. Earlier, resuming on 45-1, Pondicherry made slow progress but kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Pondicherry skipper Arun Karthick top-scored with 49 and was the last man to be dismissed by Dubey. Anand Bais made 33 while former Vidarbha player Mohit Kale contributed 32. Onus will be on Vidarbha batters to get some quick runs on the board and give some time for their bowlers to have a crack at Puducherry batters. Else, the match looks heading towards a draw. Not getting full points against Puducherry might hurt last year’s finalists position in the points table.