By Paritosh Pramanik HE PLAYED a saviour’s innings once again but Vidarbha captain Akshay Wadkar lost patience as he could not complete his maiden double century on second day of their Ranji Trophy match against Pondicherry at VCA’s Jamtha Stadium on Monday. The sweep shot which he missed halted Wadkar’s fine innings. “I am very happy with this innings. It is my career’s highest score so I am really happy to better my previous score. But yes, I made a mistake. In the entire innings I had defended those deliveries and I should have done the same. We were the last pair, I went for that sweep shot ... I should have played it straight or had gone for a big shot ... but I played a sweep...,” explained Wadkar after the end of day’s play.

 

Wadkar and Rathod put up a game-saving 245 runs partnership for the sixth wicket and Wadkar said they did not plan anything extraordinary. “We wanted to bat cautiously. We curbed some shots just to rebuild our innings. We wanted to bat through the middle session as during that period runs come easily, that the trend of this ground. Our partnership grew and they (Pondicherry bowlers) started giving us runs. That’s what we wanted,” said the captain of the partnership. “Our left-right combination also worked because the opponents were unable to set the field and we were running singles and doubles. They had to continuously change the field. It worked for us,” added Wadkar. On containing Pondicherry on the third day, Wadkar said, “Its just a matter of time. One breakthrough and we will be all over Pondicherry. Scoring runs will become very difficult on this pitch. It will definitely assist spinners from here on and Parth and Harsh would trouble them,” Wadkar signed off.