TOP-ORDER batter Danish Malewar joined a rare club of Vidarbha batters posting a triple hundred in their Cooch Behar Trophy match against Bihar at Urja Stadium in Patna on Sunday.

Starting the day at his overnight score of 159, Danish (300*; 338b, 32x4, 6x6) remained unconquered as the team declared at 691-5 after playing out 135.2 very productive overs. At stumps on Day 2, the hosts were reeling at 125-4 in 40 overs and were still trailing by 566 runs.

First half of the day belonged to Vidarbha batsmen and more particularly to Danish who picked from where he had left on Saturday evening. The right-handed batter was more aggressive and played big shots. First he added 83 (117b) runs with skipper Mohd Faiz and had pacy partnership with vice-captain Jagjot Singh Sasan (79; 62b, 5x4, 6x6), who used the long handle to good effect.

Danish dominated the sixth wicket partnership (57*) with Ashit Singh (15*) and as soon as he reached that magical figure, the team asked the batters to come back. With a triple, a double and a hundred to his credit, Danish has become

the leading run-scorer in the tournament.

Vidarbha seamer Pratham Maheshwari (12-2-34-3) and spinner Ashit Singh (11-7-8-1) complemented the batsmen by bowing superb spells in second half.

Brief scores: Vidarbha 691-5d in 135.2 overs (R Binkar 217, D Malewar 300*, Jagjot 79; P Chaubey 2-142) vs Bihar 125-4 in 40 overs (Harshit 44*; P Maheshwari 3-34, A Singh 1-8).