Struggling at 6/3 in the 10th over, Vidarbha staged a spectacular comeback to reach 234/5 at stumps on Saturday, thanks to Dhruv Shorey’s unbeaten century. Earlier deciding to bowl first after skipper Subhranshu Senapati won the toss, Odisha’s new-ball bowlers Rajesh Mohanty and Tapash Das made life miserable for Vidarbha batters on a track assisting the quick bowlers.. Taking an advantage of freshness on wickes, Mohanty trapped Aman Mokhade in front of stumps in the third over of the match on duck and then had Atharva Taide (1) caught by Sandeep Pattanaik in the seventh over.
Tapas then chipped in with the wicket of Parth Rekhade (2), going through his defence to rattle the stumps.
Vidarbha were in dire straits. But Shorey (128* off 250 balls) and Ravikumar Samarth (49 off 144 balls) dug in with some stubborn defence. Runs, forget boundaries, were hard to come by as Vidarbha reached 26/3 in 26 overs. Shorey and Samarth weathered the storm before starting to play some shots after lunch. The duo added 141 runs for the fourth wicket before left-arm spinner Jamala trapped Samarth leg-before wicket.
Odisha bowlers were further frustrated as Shorey found another determined partner in Yash Rathod (38 off 86), and the two put on 83 for the fifth wicket. As they looked to play out the day, Tapas struck with the second new ball, dismissing Rathod leg-before wicket 10 minutes before close of play.
BRIEF SCORES
Vidarbha 1st innings: 234/5 in 90 overs (Dhruv Shorey 128 batting, R Samarth 49; Tapas Das 2/29, Rajesh Mohanty 2/34).