Nagpur
Vidarbha kept their knockout hopes alive defeating Madhya Pradesh by 22 runs in Syed Mushtaq Ali T-20 Cricket Tournament at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot on Thursday..
Jitesh Sharma once again turned out to be a match-winner for Vidarbha as he slammed unbeaten 50 in 21 balls hitting five boundaries and three sixes. His knock helped Vidarbha to post a good total of 180 losing five wickets. Earlier openers Atharva Taide (30, 17b, 5x4) and skipper Akshay Wadkar (44, 43, 5x4) who promoted himself in the batting order gave a flying start to Vidarbha by making 55 runs partnership for first wicket. When they were going solid, Ankit Singh Kushwah clean bowled Taide and broke the partnership. Apoorv Wankhade ( 35, 23b, 3x6) gave some good company to Wadkar and both stitched up 57 run partnership for second wicket. With 112 runs on board, Kumar Kartikeya Singh got rid of Wadkar. Shubham Dubey scored 10 before becoming a victim of Kuswah. then it was all Sharma show who literally hammered the rival bowlers.
For MP, Ankit Singh Kushwah claimed three wickets for 28 runs whereas Kumar Kartikeya Singh and Kuldeep Sen were chipped in with one each.
In reply, MP were all out for 158 in 191. overs. Thanks to the disciplined bowling by Vidarbha bowlers. Speedsters Umesh Yadav and Darshan Nalkande shared six wickets between them whereas Yash Thakur got two.
For MP, opener Ashwin Das top scored with 36. Rajat Patidar contributed 35. Vidarbha will play their last league match on October 22 against Railways.
After playing six matches Vidarha have 16 points to their credit with four victories and two defeats. Uttarakhand too have 16 points. Mumbai are on top with 20 in six matches.
Brief scores
Vidarbha: 180 for 5 in 20 overs (Jitesh Sharma 50, Akshay Wadkar 44 Apoorv Wankhade 35, , AtharvaTaide 30, Ankit Singh Kushwad 3 for 28)
Madhya Pradesh: 158 all out in 19.1 overs (Ashwin Das 36, Rajat Patidar 35, Akshat Raghuvnashi 34, Umesh Yadav 3 for 29, Darshan Nalkande 3 for 23, Yash Thakur 2 for 24,)
Result: Vidarbha won by 22 runs.