From a precarious 32-3, hosts reach 313-5 against Haryana in Ranji n By Anupam Soni COMPLEMENTING each other, vice-captain Aditya Sarvate and southpaw Yash Rathod came up with solid batting display to put Vidarbha in a good position against Haryana in their last but most important Ranji Trophy Group A league game at VCA Civil Lines ground on Friday. The last accomplished pair of Sarvate (74*; 111b, 9x4) and Rathod (68*; 141b, 11x4) have added 147 runs for the unfinished sixth wicket partnership and were going strong when the umpires pushed the bails on to the turf signalling end of the opening day’s play. To their credit the middle-order batters made good use of the second new ball to score 31 runs form six overs. Coming at 166-5, when skipper Akshay Wadkar got out, Sarvate-Rathod pair took the side to 313-5. While Sarvate played some fine shots on the leg side including a couple of well-controlled disdainful pulls, young Rathod was superb with his carpet drives on the off side.

 

Both the batters also scored on other side of the wicket with Sarvate’s late-cut off IPL star Rahul Tewatia being a stand-out shot. Though Vidarbha have been leading Group A since start, the tournament is still wide open with at least four teams in the reckoning for the two slots. Wadkar won flip of the coin but the home team had a disastrous start as three batters were cooling their heels within the first hour. Faiz Fazal edged Aman Kumar to first slip, Atharva Taide gave a return catch to Sumit Kumar and Aman struck again to trap Karun Nair. Dhruv Shorey (78; 118b, 13x4) and Wadkar (62; 119b, 5x4) did the repair job helping themselves to fifties. From 32-2, the duo took team to lunch (125-3) without any further damage. But soon after the pair had added 123 for fourth wicket, Shorey misjudged the line to see his off stick uprooted by Sumit.

 

Wadkar, who recorded his fifth consecutive half century this season (total six from nine innings), once again could not convert it into a three-digit score. He was caught down the leg side by Rohit Sharma off Anshul Kamboj. From then onwards the right-left pair of Sarvate and Rathod frustrated the rival bowlers with supreme confidence. Vidarbha made three changes to the squad that beat Maharashtra by ten wickets in the last game. In place of Mohit Kale, Umesh Yadav and Harsh Dubey, the team included Faiz Fazal, Umesh Yadav and Akshay Wakhare.