Vidarbha displayed an all-round performance to start their Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 campaign on a winning note in Kolkata on Saturday. In their Elite Group D opener, played at Jadavpur University Campus Ground 2 in Kolkata, Vidarbha thrashed Goa by seven wickets in an afternoon game. Putting Goa in to bat, Vidarbha bowlers, led by Dubey restricted them at a paltry 146-9 in 20 overs. They then knocked off the required runs in 17.3 overs with seven wickets in hand. It was seamer Dubey who broke Goa’s back with four wickets for 30 runs from his quota of overs. This was after Darshan Nalkande gave Vidarbha an early success in the third over of the innings.

 

Dubey then snared two wickets in his second over. He got Goa captain Abhinav Tejrana and then sent Suyansh Prabhudessai back caught by Varun Bisht. Goa were in all sorts of trouble when Ishan Gadekar was run out by a brilliant throw from Samarth. Deepraj Gaonkar resisted with a 37-ball 39 but Yash Kadam foxed him with a slower one getting him caught off his own bowling. Vidarbha did not have the best of the start as they lost Danish Malewar (8)in the second over. However, captain Taide and Ravikumar Samarth joined hands and dented Goan bowling with a match winning partnership of 104 runs from jusy 77 deliveries. Samarth was more severe on Goa bowlers as he hit seven boundaries and a six in his 39-ball stay in the middle. Taide played second fiddle to Samarth and the duo completed their deserved half centuries. Their partnership was finally broken when Taide was caught by Darshan Misal off Shubham Tiwari. Samarth too perished immediately falling to the same bowler. Vedant Jajoo then completed the formalities with a quickfire 11-ball undefeated 23 runs which had three boundaries and a huge six. Kadam remained unbeaten on nine.