Vid batters make merry, Malewar, Nair, Wadkar hit tons

At stumps Vidarba piled a huge total of 512/8. and were leading by 169 runs.

Both overnight unbeaten batsmen, Danish Malewar and Karun Nair, continued their rollicking partnership. Having joined forces at 50/2, the duo took the team score to 272 before the former fell for 115. It was Malewar's maiden ton in first-class cricket and it came off 228 balls and included 16 boundaries and two sixes. Nair also followed suit. His 123 came off 237 deliveries with 16 hits to the fence and two beyond. They added 222 runs for the third wicket to shatter Gujarat bowlers' morale. Skipper Akshay Wadkar and Yash Rathod (38) added 39 runs for the fifth wicket before the skipper partnered Harsh Dubey in raising 75 runs for the sixth.

Wadkar, who like Malewar, was lucky to survive after being dismissed off a no-ball, brought up his century at the fag end of the day. He was batting on 104 off 152 balls, having already ensured a match-winning lead of 169 runs for his team.

With a handy first innings lead, Vidarbha, in all likelihood will go for the kill on the final day.

BRIEF SCORES: At Close, day 3

Gujarat 1st innings: 343 all our in 105.3 overs (Priyank Panchal 88, Vishal Jayswal 112, Chintan Gaja 86 not out.; Praful Hinge 3/74, Nachiket Bhute 3/66, Aditya Thakare 3/63)

Vidarbha 1st innings 512/8 in 148 overs (Danish Malewar 115 , Karun Nair 123, Akshay Wadkar batting 104, Yash Rathod 38; Tejas Patel 3/79)

Vidarbha lead by 169 runs