Vidarbha’s ambidextrous bowler Akshay Karnewar, who mostly bowls with left arm, etched his name in record books by bowling most maiden overs in a Twenty20 match by not conceding a single run in his four overs. Vidarbha’s in-form batsmen made the most of a pedestrian Manipur bowling attack on their way to fourth consecutive win in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy Twenty20 cricket tournament at the ACA Stadium, Mangalagiri, Vijayawada on Monday. With 16 points and a very healthy net run rate of +4.537, Vidarbha have almost secured a place in the knock-outs. They just need to win their final league game against Sikkim or even if they lose, it must not be by a big margin. Nagaland and Tripura are sitting at second and third spot with an identical 12 points from four games each. Both have won three and lost one.

 

Vidarbha dished out a clinical performance to record a crushing 167-run win. Big-hitters Jitesh Sharma, Apoorv Wankhade and Atharva Taide sent Manipur bowlers on a leather hunt amassing 222-4 in 20 overs and then the bowlers joined the party skittling out the opponents for a meagre 55. Electing to bat, Wankhade smashed half a dozen sixes and a four in his 16-ball unbeaten 49 while Sharma sent the ball to the ropes and over it on five occasions each to hammer not out 71 from 31 balls. The duo added a whopping 105 runs in 5.5 overs. This was after Taide made a quick and solid 46 from 21 balls hitting seven fours and two sixes. Skipper Akshay Wadkar and Shubham Dubey contributed 28 and 18 respectively. Siddhesh Wath did not disturb the scorers. Manipur started on a sloppy note as Nitesh was ran out by Taide for nought. Skipper-opener Narsingh Yadav (10) and Karnajit Y (18) scored in double figures. For Vidarbha, Karnewar was duly supported by Taide (2-6) and seamer Aditya Thakare (2-17). Siddhesh Neral, Akshay Wakhare and Darshan Nalkande chipped in with a wicket apiece.