We never gave up hope, says Wadkar

 

 

 

 

 

 

VIDARBHA captain Akshay Wadkar, who frustrated Mumbai with a gritty century, eventhough for a losing cause on the fifth day of the Ranji Trophy final, asserted that the team never gave up the hope despite chasing the mammoth target of 538 runs. Vidarbha lost the final to Mumbai by 169 runs but it was only after a fine 102 from captain Wadkar and young Harsh Dubey’s 65 who both added 130 runs for the sixth wicket on Thursday. “It (giving up) was never an option. We never talked about it in the dressing room. When we walked in the morning to bat, we only wanted to play ball-by-ball,” Wadkar told ‘The Hitavada’ from Mumbai. “We were aware that the target was huge but we wanted to bat as long as we could and reach near the target,” added Wadkar. The captain said he was proud of his side for performing up to the expectation in the entire tournament. “I am really proud of all my team-mates. Not only in Ranji Trophy, we also played well in the one-dayers (Vijay Hazare) and T20 (Syed Mushtaq Ali) tournaments.

 

Out of the 36-36 teams that play in the domestic circuit, we are the second best and I am proud of that,” asserted Wadkar. “Vidarbha is a small State (Unit) but we have immense talent. We always try to motivate juniors and give them chance. Throughout the season, we batted well, we fielded well, we bowled well. For this match (final), I can say that it was a bad day, or a bad session. Even some decisions went against us....But we played well confidently,” added Wadkar. “In earlier matches too we had made comebacks and we were confident of doing the same in this game too. But somehow we couldn’t....someone has to win...,” Wadkar mentioned. Wadkar said what they learnt from the last two days of the final is to never give up. “We should maintain a habit of never giving up, in any circumstances. Nobody believed that this match would enter the fifth day and second session.

 

All were of the view that we would lose inside 200 runs. But the team should immense determination and I am proud of all of them. We have talent and we want that talent to be implemented as a team in big matches,” felt Wadkar. The wicketkeeper-batter admitted of missing Aditya Sarvate who got injured and could not bowl. “Yes we missed him. He was our premier bowler. His presence would have made the difference.” Wadkar also lauded rival captain Ajinkya Rahane and said he learnt a lot from his captaincy. He is a cool captain. What I learned from his captaincy is that we should never lose patience. We should keep motivating the team and bring in positivity even in precarious situation,” Wadkar concluded.