VIDARBHA bowlers withstood a fierce onslaught from Chhattisgarh’s Shashank Singh (154) to squeeze out a narrow nine-run victory in their Group B match of the Vijay Hazare Trophy in Jaipur on Friday. This was after Dhruv Shorey’s fine 99-ball 101 and a couple of important partnerships during Vidarbha’s innings. The win -- Vidarbha’s fifth on the trot -- virtually assured them of a berth in the knock-out stage of the competition with two league matches remaining. Vidarbha now have 20 points in their kitty with five wins from as many games and are sitting atop the Group B. They are followed by Services who have 16 points from five matches while Chhattisgarh are at third with 12 points from five outings. In a truncated 42-over game, Vidarbha got off to a fine start with openers Atharva Taide (33) and Shorey putting on 81 runs in 16 overs. Following the dismissal of skipper Taide, Shorey (101, 99b, 4x13) and Aman Mokhade (83, 69b, 4x6, 6x2) added 120 runs for the second wicket to lay a solid platform.

 

Akshay Karnewar justified his promotion in the batting order by smashing four sixes in his quickfire knock of 28 off 14 balls while Karun Nair too helped himself to two boundaries and two sixes while making an unbeaten 23. Vidarbha’s tally of 283-6 seemed enough when Chhattisgarh were reeling on 72-4, but Shashank first partnered Ashutosh Singh (36) to add 101 runs for the fifth wicket and followed it up with a 56-run stand for the sixth wicket with Ajay Mandal (15) to revive hopes. However, the dismissal of Shashank for a splendid 154 (111 balls, 4x11, 6x11) in the 40th over, tilted the match Vidarbha’s way. This was Shashank’s second successive century. India pacer Umesh Yadav Darshan Nalkande and Karnewar took two wickets each while Harsh Dubey chipped in with one.

 

Brief scores: Vidarbha: 282-6 in 42 overs (A Taide 33, D Shorey 101, A Mokhade 83, A Karnewar 28, K Nair 23) bt Chhattisgarh: 273-9 in 42 overs (S Singh 154, A Singh 36, S Singh 21 NO; U Yadav 2-45, Y Thakur 2-35, D Nalkande 2-58, A Karnewar 2-59) by 9 runs. ODISHA POST 224: Odisha posted 224 against Vidarbha on the opening day of the Vijay Merchant Trophy at Amingaon Cricket Ground in Guwahati. Anshul Sarda was the most successful bowler for Vidarbha who took five wickets. Jayesh Jagdish Kumbhre took three wickets. For Odisha, Swagat Sourav Mishra top scored with 80 runs. In reply, Vidarbha were 18 for no loss with openers Jayesh Jagdish Kumbhre (5) and Shubh R (9) at the crease.