Dhawan, Negi put Himachal in control

 

 

Spinners Harsh Dubey and Akshay Wakhare gave important breakthroughs to Vidarbha but Himachal Pradesh took the honours on the opening day of their Ranji Trophy Group B match at VCA Civil Lines ground on Wednesday. At stumps, Himachal Pradesh were 263 for six with captain Rishi Dhawan (47) and vice-vaptain Mukul Negi (38) at the crease. They have added unbeaten 72 runs for the seventh wicket. Vidarbha, undefeated in the tournament so far, got over Himachal immediately with a wicket on the second ball of the day but the visitors came back into the game with small but crucial partnerships in their innings. Vidarbha pacer Praful Hinge’s second delivery of the morning moved slightly forcing Himachal opener Shubham Arora to edge one to Athrava Taide at second slip. With partnership building for the second wicket, veteran spinner Wakhare came into the act and rattled the stumps of Ankit Kalsi (27) in the 15th over when the batter, along with Prashant Chopra (31), had added 36 runs.

 

 

It was the turn of another spinner Dubey who broke the third wicket stand between Chopra and Ekant Sen (44). They had put 54 runs when Dubey bowled Chopra as Himachal took lunch at 97 for three wickets. Post break, Vidarbha were forced to work hard for a while with Sen and Amit Kumar picking runs in boundaries. However, Dubey once again broke the partnership. Sen tried a forward-defence shot but was beaten by the turn and Vidarbha captain-wicketkeeper Akshay Wadkar clipped the bails in no time to send the batter back. Himachal captain Rishi Dhawan, coming into the match on the back of a huge century against Andhra, increased the pace of the game with a flurry of boundaries as visitors crossed the 200-run mark after tea break. Akash Vashisht and Dhawan were looking dangerous and had added 35 runs when the former was sent back by Wakhare who’s straight delivery kept a bit low to rattle into the stumps.

 

However, Dhawan continued his imperious form and hit sweetly-timed boundaries, seven in total. Some were pulled through the mid-wicket area and a few were guided beautifully through covers. Vidarbha took the second new ball in the 83rd over and Dhawan punched one for a cover drive boundary. Later, he gently played a cut shot off Hinge for a third man boundary as he raced towards his half century. Vidarbha spinners Wakhare (18-5-42-2) and Dubey (28-5-62-3) bowled 46 overs between them and have shared five wickets on the opening day.

 

 

 

 

VIDARBHA Cricket Association (VCA) felicitated veteran spinner Akshay Wakhare for his outstanding contribution. The 39-year-old, who made his First-Class debut in 2006 vs Kerala completed a century of FC matches against Uttarakhand. Wakhare has played 86 Ranji Trophy matches apart from 11 Duleep Trophy and two Irani Cup ties. Wakhare was presented a shawl and a silver salver by VCA President Justice Vinay M Deshpande (former Judge of the Bombay High Court) in the presence of the two teams, umpires and Match Referee Balmik Buch. VCA Honorary Vice-President, Dr Avinash Deshmuk, Secretary Sanjay Badkas, Joint Secretary Chandrakasnt Manke and CADC Chairman Prashant Vaidya were also present during the function.