PRIOR to this match, Aman Mokhade had only one wicket against his name in 18 First-Class matches he has played till date. But on Tuesday, the Vidarbha opener and part-time spinner made sure his ‘wickets taken’ column also got noticed as he snared three Pondicherry wickets on the third day of their Elite Group ‘A’ Ranji Trophy match here at VCA’s Jamtha Stadium. Resuming at an overnight score of 107-1 against Vidarbha’s 428, Pondicherry showed courage with a couple of partnerships down the order to post 313, conceding first innings by just 115 runs. The rear guard resistance from former Vidarbha cricketer Mohit Kale (78) frustrated Vidarbha camp. Two partnerships, first between Kale and Sagar Udeshi of 48 runs for the eighth wicket and then between Kale and Vijai Raja of 43 runs for the last wicket denied Vidarbha an upper hand.

 

The two partnerships consumed 118 crucial minutes which would have been beneficial for Vidarbha while batting in the second innings. At stumps, Vidarbha were 22 for one with an overall lead of 137. Aman Mokhade (15) and Harsh Dubey (0) were at the crease after Vidarbha lost opener R Samarth (7) on the penultimate over of the day. Vidarbha captain Akshay Wadkar was on the coin when he predicted that spinners would get purchase from the turning track. Harsh Dubey (35-8-79-2), Parth Rekhade (26.5-5-64-3) and Mokhade (11-1-35-3) shared the bulk of wickets. Pondicherry’s overnight batters Ritesh Gudge (95) and Nikhil Gangta continued to frustrate Vidarbha bowlers in the morning. But after an hour of play, the hosts managed to get the breakthrough when Gangta’s furniture was disturbed by Rekhade’s arm delivery. Gudge and Gangta added 145 runs for the second wicket.

 

His departure brought in former Vidarbha player Kale at the crease but the third wicket pair could not add much to their total as debutant Gudke’s innings was cut short by Dubey at the stroke of lunch. Gudke tried to sweep a delivery but mistimed it only to give a simple catch to R Samarth at short mid-wicket. Post lunch, Mokhade rolled his golden arm and got the wickets of wicketkeeper Prasad Pawar (10), Aman Khan (1) and Ankit Sharma (6) in quick succession. In between, pacer Darshan Nalkande cleaned up Sagar Trivedi as Pondicherry lost four wickets in 37 minutes adding only 20 runs. Kale batted with purpose even though he kept losing partners from the other end. He completed his fighting half century from 101 deliveries. With only one wicket remaining in Vijai Raja, Kale took most of the strike to take their total closer to Vidarbha’s 428. The last wicket pair added 48 runs from 78 balls before Kale finally perished giving Rekhade his third wicket.