Fairytale finish for Vidarbha

Vihari smashes a big century as RoI finishes with 390

March 18, 2018 09:17 pm | Updated 09:17 pm IST - NAGPUR

Cup that cheers:  The triumphant Vidarbha team with the  Irani Cup.

Cup that cheers: The triumphant Vidarbha team with the Irani Cup.

Vidarbha signed off its most memorable domestic season in style, claiming the Irani Cup from Rest of India on the basis of a first innings lead, at the Vidarbha Cricket Association stadium on Sunday.

It took Faiz Fazal’s men a little over 52 overs on the fifth and final day to dismiss the last four RoI batsmen and take a huge 410-runs first innings lead.

Vidarbha couldn’t have asked for a better occasion than Gudhi Padwa — beginning of the Marathi New Year — to lift the coveted trophy. Though the outcome was all but sure when Vidarbha put up 800 for seven its first innings, RoI’s overnight pair of G. Hanuma Vihari and Jayant Yadav continued to frustrate the Vidarbha bowlers.

Having accumulated 138 runs for the seventh wicket, Vihari and Jayant carried on in the same vein. Jayant played an uppish drive off left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate off the first ball of the morning but was fortunate that it went wide of the man at short cover. Then on, Jayant dug deep while Vihari also took his time.

The duo dropped guard when Vidarbha took the new ball, three overs into the day’s play, and blocked Umesh Yadav and Rajneesh Gurbani for six maidens in succession.

The moment Sarwate was re-introduced, Vihari, on 93, charged down the wicket for a six. In the next over, he steered young pacer Aditya Thakare for a boundary behind the wicket and raised his bat for an impressive hundred.

With the pitch showing no wear and tear, Vihari went after offie Akshay Wakhare, pounding him for 22 runs in three overs. While Vihari was opening his shoulders up at will, Jayant kept on milking the bowlers, hoping to mark his return to first-class cricket with a hundred.

However, half-an-hour before lunch, Sarwate drew him forward with one that slightly turned, Jayant missed and ’keeper Akshay Wadkar whipped off the bails when Jayant’s back-leg was on the white line.

With the much-awaited breakthrough, Vidarbha started tightening the noose. Shahbaz Nadeem, after holding up an end for 66 minuntes, lost patience after lunch and went for a wild swat that resulted in the ball crashing into the stumps.

Umpire C.K. Nandan then fell succumbed to the fielding side’s pressure as he upheld an appeal against Siddharth Kaul when a Umesh bouncer lobbed to forward short leg off the batsman’s forearm.

Vihari, with a double hundred in sight, attempted to clear the boundary off Sarwate but Apoorv Wankhede held his nerve to take a good catch at long-on to wind up the RoI innings.

The scores:

Vidarbha — 1st innings: 800 for seven decl.

Rest of India — 1st innings: Prithvi Shaw c Wankhede b Thakare 51, R. Samarth c Sarwate b Gurbani 0, Mayank Agarwal c Sanjay b Umesh 11, Karun Nair c Wadkar b Gurbani 21, G. Hanuma Vihari c Wankhede b Sarwate 183, K.S. Bharat b Gurbani 0, R Ashwin c Fazal b Gurbani 8, Jayant Yadav st. Wadkar b Sarwate 96, Shahbaz Nadeem b Sarwate 15, Siddharth Kaul c sub b Umesh 2, Navdeep Saini (not out) 0; Extras (lb-2, w-1): 3; Total (in 129.1 overs): 390.

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-21, 3-77, 4-90, 5-90, 6-98, 7-314, 8-372, 9-389.

Vidarbha bowling: Umesh 27-7-72-2, Gurbani 24-4-70-4, Thakare 19-4-74-1, Sarwate 37.1-12-97-3, Wakhare 21-3-64-0, Sanjay 1-0-11-0.

Vidarbha — 2nd innings: R. Sanjay (not out) 27, Akshay Wadkar (not out) 50; Extras (b-2): 2; Total (for no loss in 26 overs): 79

Rest of India bowling: Saini 4-4-0-0, Nadeem 6-2-21-0, Jayant 6-2-15-0, Vihari 2-0-10-0, Mayank 4-0-15-0, Samarth 3-0-10-0, Shaw 1-0-6-0.

Man-of-the-match: Jaffer.

Vidarbha won on first innings lead of 410 runs.

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