Vidarbha make it to maiden semis
| Date :17-Nov-2020 |
By Anupam Soni :
All-round show help them secure a convincing 412-run win over Kerala in quarters
BY VIRTUE of their top position in Group D, Vidarbha were drawn with Group B’s second best team Kerala in the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals in 2017-18 season. With four-outright wins, Vidarbha were the only unbeaten team in the group and topped the league phase with 31 points much ahead of the second-placed Bengal (23 points). Though Kerala registered five wins in their group, they also lost one game and had collected identical points like Vidarbha. With the culture of neutral venues in place for the knock-out matches then, the two sides clashed at Lalabhai Contractor Stadium in Surat from December (7-11) 2017. Vidarbha came up trumps winning the game by 412 runs to make it to maiden Ranji semis.
Vidarbha skipper Faiz Fazal won the toss and decided to bat first. The first day’s play started in the final session and after a very slow and cautious start, Vidarbha were 45-3 in 24 overs at end of the day. Ganesh Satish and night-watchman Karn Sharma were not out on seven each. Southpaw Faiz (2) was the first to go when right-arm medium pacer MD Nidheesh got rid of him on last ball of the eighth over. Senior pro Wasim Jaffer (12) and other opened R Sanjay (17) were sent back by slow left-arm orthodox KC Akshay, who made his First-Class debut the same season.
The second morning was not much good either. Off-break bowler Jalaj Saxena gave Vidarbha a jolt by scalping Ganesh after the batsman had added just two runs to his overnight score. Apoorv Wankhade (15), who hit two fours, was stumped by Sanju Samson off Akshay while going for a big one. When Sharma (31) was out lbw to Saxena, Vidarbha were in a soup at 95-6 inside 50 overs. But wicketkeeper Akshay Wadkar (53) and all-rounder Aditya Sarvate (36) were ready for a grind. They were together for more than 30 overs adding 74 runs for the seventh wicket. Within next 24 runs, three more wickets fell. Sarvate and Rajneesh Gurbani helped Akshay complete his maiden five-wicket haul while Wadkar was out to Basil Thampi.
The last pair of Akshay Wakhare (27*) and Lalit Yadav (24) hung on to stitch an important partnership of 53 runs to take the team to 246 in 105.3 overs. In reply, Mohammed Azharuddeen (8) and Saxena raced to 23 in 2.4 overs before two wickets for one runs in five balls halted their charge. Seamers Yadav and Gurbani clean bowled Azharuddeen and Sandeep Warrier (0) respectively. In possible seven overs of the second day, Kerala were 32-2 with Saxena (13*) and Rohan Prem (5*) at the crease. On a fresh day, the overnight not out batsmen saw off the first hour accumulating 47 runs for the third wicket before leg-spinner Sharma gave team the much needed breakthrough by having Prem caught by Jaffer. Sanju Samson (32), Saxena (40) Arun Karthik (21) and Sachin Baby (29) all got starts but none was not able to convert those into anything substantial. After Sarvate got Samson out lbw and offie Akshay Wakhare had Saxena caught by substitute Shalabh Shrivastava, Gurbani polished off the tail. From a healthy looking 115-3, Kerala were shot out for 176 in 61.5 overs as seven wickets fell for 61 runs.
Gurbani (5-38) who took four wickets in four overs and gave Vidarbha a substantial (70 runs) first-innings lead was pick of the bowlers. With a handy lead, Fazal, who seemed in complete control, and R Sanjay (14) gave the team an ideal start. The duo added 53 runs before the latter edged Saxena for Samson. Faiz (51*) and Wakhare (7*) took Vidarbha to 77-1 in 30 overs when stumps were drawn for the third day. Fourth day was completely dominated by Vidarbha. Faiz went on to hit one more First-Class hundred, Jaffer (58) and Ganesh (65) added one more FC fifty to their illustrious records but Wankhade’s (107; 94b, 6x4, 5x6) whirlwind knock hurt Kerala most.
The lanky batsman was on song that day. By end of the day, Vidarbha were sitting pretty at 431-6 and had batted Kerala out of the match with Wadkar (20*) and Sharma (4*) adding to the rivals’ frustration. Wadkar (67) had some good batting practice on last day and Vidarbha declared at 507-9. “We had never won a quarter-final and so we all were motivated to do well in that game. We wanted to break that jinx. I had missed a couple of earlier matches and Chandu (coach Chandrakant Pandit) Sir gave me another chance in the crucial game. So, I wanted to prove myself. There was hunger in me to do something big but I stuck to my natural game. I also held on to a good catch at gully off Gurbani,” said Wankhade, who hit a hurricane hundred. Kerala had an improbable target of 578 runs to be made from under seventy overs. But Vidarbha, led by left-arm spinner Sarvate (6-41) and Gurbani (2-30), who took a wicket in very first over of the innings, made sure Vidarbha entered their maiden Ranji semis with a thumping 412 runs win. “Even when we had secured a first innings lead and piled huge score in the second innings, Chandu Sir asked us to not to let go the intensity. He asked us to consider that we have to defend 180. We all also did not relax and took all the ten wickets in just under three sessions,” recalled Wankhade. Vidarbha were ready for the semis with the morale boosting win.