FINE spell of seam bowling by Yash Thakur, who returned with his maiden five-wicket haul in the shortest format, and Atharva Taide’s fifty at top of the order helped Vidarbha thump Kerala by six wickets in their Elite Group A match of Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Tuesday. Thakur, who has played for different franchisees in the Indian Premier League, became just the third bowler from Vidarbha to take fifers in all the three format — First Class, List A (50-over game) and Twenty20 after India pacer Umesh Yadav and IPL player Darshan Nalkande. After being put into bat, Kerala lost two quick wickets including that of skipper and India player Sanju Samson to pacer Nachiket Bhute but staged a remarkable recovery. They were cruising along at 109-2 in 11.5 overs.

 

 

 

Thakur not only broke that flourishing partnership by getting Rohan Kunnummal (58) but went on to take four more as Kerala lost last eight wickets for 55 runs in 7.3 overs. Thakur used short balls to good effect and bowled in right channel for fine figures of 3.2-0-16-5. He was ably assisted by Adhyayan Daga who snared three with his military medium. During the chase, southpaw Taide, who scored his first single on last ball of first over after playing five dots, cut loose soon scoring fours and sixes as Vidarbha raced to 44-0 in four overs with his contribution being 35. Against the run of play, in-form Aman Mokhade was declared caught behind down the legside with apparently the batter missing the ball by a margin. With no DRS, Mokhade had no option but to walk back dejectedly. After playing three dots, Daga opened his account with a six.

 

Vidarbha were 59-1 at end of the powerplay. Daga was caught at long on to a relay catch at the ropes in Chinaman Vignesh Puthur’s first over. In company of Dhruv Shorey, Taide completed his fifty in style hoicking left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma over long-on fence for a maximum. Twice in the tenth over, Samson could not read Puthur and conceded two fours behind him. At the half way mark, Vidarbha were 97-2. Shorey swept off-spinner Basith for his first six as Vidarbha went past 100-run mark. Vidarbha lost two in two balls as Shorey and Taide departed at the same score of 112. New batters left-handed Shivam Deshmukh and Varun Bisht joined hands when 53 run were still needed from 47 balls. With occasional boundary they kept the required rate to run a ball.

 

Two back to back sixes by Deshmukh against Puthur brought the equation to five from last 12 balls. A swept four by Deshmukh took the team home. The win propelled Vidarbha (8 points from 2 wins and two losses) to fourth spot in the group behind Mumbai (four wins from as many game and 16 points), Andhra (three wins and a loss, 12 points) and Kerala (8 points on net run rate).