Vid top-order fails again

 

 

 

 

 

 

ON AN eventful overcast day on a lively turf sporting a generous spread of grass, the bowlers called the shots with 14 wickets falling on opening day of the Ranji Trophy Elite Group A match between Vidarbha and defending champions Saurashtra at VCA Civil Lines ground on Friday. After inviting the visitors to bat, Vidarbha bowlers bundled out Saurashtra for 206 with India pacer Umesh Yadav (4-56) doing the bulk of damage. He was assisted by both left-arm spinners Aditya Sarvate (2-22) and Harsh Dubey (2-15), and seamers Aditya Thakare and Yash Thakur who picked one wicket apiece. Their good work was undone by batters as the top four were back in the hut with hosts reeling at 26-4 when bails were displaced by the umpires after an extended third session of the day. Though Vidarbha have won both their earlier matches, the batting had hardly been impressive. The trend continued in the third game also. One of the professionals Dhruv Shorey (3), who opened the innings this time, was all at sea against the new ball and his tentative push at an outgoing Jaydev Unadkat delivery landed in Prerak Mankad’s waiting hands in the second slip.

 

His opening partner R Sanjay, who looked more compact, and struck two fours, one on either side of the wicket, was neatly snapped up at short leg off the bowling of other left-arm seamer Aditya Jadeja, who shared the ball with his skipper. Beaten by some top deliveries, confidently leaving a few and playing some defensives strokes, the duo of Atharva Taide (11) and Karun Nair (3) played seven overs together before the former was adjudged out caught by wicketkeeper Harvik Desai off Prerak Mankad. The batsman did not look happy and even pointed out at his thigh pads stopping a couple of seconds before taking the walk back to the pavilion. Seasoned batter Nair attempted to break the shackles but his powerful yet uppish cut was plucked out of thin air by Dharmendrasinh Jadeja at point. The ecstatic fielder ran till the point boundary ropes with his team-mates in tow following him in sheer joy. The hosts had lost their fourth wicket at 26. Captain Akshay Wadkar, who bailed out the team from a precarious situation in opening encounter at the same venue against Services and his deputy Aditya Sarvate, top scorer in the last game against Manipur in Ahmedabad, have played 20 and seven balls respectively but are yet to get off the mark.

 

With environment conducive to bowling likely to continue, it will be a tough ask, but not impossible, for Vidarbha batters to match their rival’s score. Earlier in the day, Harvik Desai (68) and Kevin Jivrajani (15) gave the team a steady start putting on 63 runs before Sarvate removed the latter caught by Dubey at point. Yadav sent back Vishvaraj Jadeja again caught by Dubey. The visitors were a healthy 110-2 in 31 overs at lunch. On fourth ball after resumption, Desai played-on a Thakur delivery. Cheteshwar Pujara (43) and Sheldon Jackson (21) tried to resurrect the innings but Yadav’s three-wicket burst in four balls, wherein the bowler was also on a split hat-trick, pulled Vidarbha back. Sarvate took a great return catch and then Dubey polished off the tail. Thanks to Unadkat’s five fours in his unbeaten knock, Saurashtra passed the 200-run mark.