THREE-TIME Ranji Trophy and Irani Cup winners Vidarbha took 20 Rest of India wickets which helped them emerge the champion on Sunday at VCA’s Jamtha Stadium and captain Akshay Wadkar praised his young bowling unit saying it is the best in the country. Vidarbha drubbed star-studded Rest of India by 93 runs to lift their third Irani Cup trophy. Captain Wadkar heaped praise on his bowlers and said, “I think Vidarbha’s bowling unit is the best in the country. I have confidence in all my bowlers. If the target is of 200 runs, I am sure that my bowlers would destroy opponent team inside 150 runs.” Yash Thakur and Harsh Dubey took six wickets each in the match while Aditya Thakare and Parth Rekhade took three each. Darshan Nalkande chipped in with two wickets, one in each innings.

 

Wadkar was over the moon winning the title for the third time, twice as a player and now as the captain of the side and said that all the three wins have different level of satisfaction. Wadkar was part of the maiden Irani Cup win under Faiz Fazal in 2017-18 and again in 2018-19. When asked as to which one was more satisfying, the soft-spoken wicketkeeper-batter said, “every title win has a different level of satisfaction. When we won the first Irani Cup, it was a learning process for me, obviously I am still learning... But this time the responsibility was on my shoulder as I was playing with my juniors. It was my responsibility as a captain to guide all my team-mates.” The previous two title wins came with stalwarts including Wasim Jaffer, R Satish, Faiz but this win came with most of the juniors in the squad and Wadkar lauded his brigade.

 

“This is a very young team and the boys are quick learners. They enjoy learning new things and give their heart out while on the field,” he said. On the first innings total, Wadkar felt that it was a bit less. “I think we could have scored 400 plus runs but cricket is game of glorious uncertainties. We don’t get what we want. In final, or in any big match, whatever runs you put on the board it is not enough. The thing is whatever runs your team has scored, you have to learn to defend that total,” stated Wadkar. The Vidarbha skipper also lauded Atharva Taide’s innings. “He grind well after those three chances he got. He played a great innings. He took time to take team to a decent total,” Wadkar concluded.