A late order charge in the morning, followed by the spin duo of Aditya Sarvate and Akshay Wakhare exploiting favourable conditions, meant Vidarbha bounced back after a lacklustre start to the Ranji Trophy final to put Saurashtra under the pump.
Thanks to the two Akshays — Wakhare and Karnewar, especially the latter — helping Vidarbha add 112 to its overnight total of 200 for seven, it finished its first essay at a respectable 312 at the VCA Stadium.
Sarvate and Wakhare then spun their web around the in-form Saurashtra batting order, barring opener Snell Patel, to leave the visitors at 158 for five at close on the second day.
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Sarvate did the star act with three scalps, including — what he later referred to as “the biggest wicket of my career” — that of Cheteshwar Pujara. But even before setting Pujara up on the cusp of tea, the left-arm spinner did the damage with the new ball.
Rajneesh Gurbani and Umesh Yadav expectedly shared the new ball for Vidarbha at the start of the second session with the home team having batted out the opening one.
But Vidarbha captain Faiz Fazal — prodded by coach Chandrakant Pandit — brought Sarvate on in the third over and it took the spinner just three balls to get one to drift in to Harvik Desai and find the opener trapped in front of the wickets.
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The surprise ploy had worked and it took Sarvate just two overs before Gurbani was reintroduced. Umesh bowled a fiery spell from the other end, even hitting Snell on the chest but with the pitch starting to offer slow turn and the rough being created with every passing over, the Vidarbha spin triumvirate bore the bulk of the workload.
With Snell going after left-arm spinner Karnewar, hitting him for three crisp boundaries, Sarvate changed ends to pick Visvaraj Jadeja with a straight ball. With the tea break barely minutes away and Pujara at the crease, Vidarbha tried to pressurize the India batting backbone by employing three close-in catchers and not letting the batsman use his feet.
It worked to perfection as, off what turned out to be the last ball before tea, Pujara jabbed at one from Sarvate that was turning slightly away from him and Wasim Jaffer accepted the dolly.
Even in the last session, despite Snell playing a near-flawless knock — only turning lucky with umpire Anil Chaudhary failing to read a bat-pad decision when he was on 75 — Vidarbha didn’t lose the grip with offie Wakhare coming to the fore.
Leftie Arpit Vasavada’s patient innings ended with a nick to Jaffer before Wakhare got Sheldon Jackson at forward short-leg off a bat-pad in the next over after missing out on Snell’s wicket.
Telling contribution
That wasn’t Wakhare’s only telling contribution of the day. In the morning, his eighth-wicket association of 78 with Karnewar helped Vidarbha overcome top-order failures. Karnewar, who remained unbeaten after scoring his second First Class fifty, showed there’s much more to his game than just his ability to be an ambidextrous spinner.
The scores: Vidarbha — 1st innings: Faiz Fazal (run out) 16, R. Sanjay c Vasavada b Unadkat 2, Wasim Jaffer c Patel b Unadkat 23, Mohit Kale c Desai b Makvana 35, Ganesh Satish c Patel b Mankad 32, Akshay Wadkar c Mankad b Sakariya 45, Aditya Sarvate c Desai b Jadeja 0, Akshay Karnewar (not out) 73, Akshay Wakhare b Sakariya 34, Umesh Yadav c Patel b Unadkat 13, Rajneesh Gurbani b Makvana 6, Extras (b-9, lb-23, w-1): 33; Total (in 120.2 overs): 312.
Fall of wickets: 1-21, 2-29, 3-60, 4-106, 5-134, 6-139, 7-196, 8-274, 9-299.
Saurashtra bowling: Unadkat 24-7-54-3, Sakariya 21-9-44-2, Mankad 23-7-41-1, Jadeja 28-6-83-1, Makvana 24.2-1-58-2.
Saurashtra — 1st innings: Harvik Desai lbw b Sarvate 10, Snell Patel (batting) 87, Vishvarajsinh Jadeja lbw b Sarvate 18, Cheteshwar Pujara c Jaffer b Sarvate 1, Arpit Vasavada c Jaffer b Wakhare 13, Sheldon Jackson c Wadkar b Wakhare 9, Prerak Mankad (batting) 16, Extras (b-4): 4; Total (for five wkts. in 59 overs): 158.
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-79, 3-81, 4-115, 5-131.
Vidarbha bowling: Gurbani 5-2-11-0, Yadav 13-5-17-0, Sarvate 20-6-55-3, Karnewar 9-3-29-0, Wakhare 12-0-42-2.